Static body posture and cervical spine disorders in computer worker

• Grant number: 13/10483-9
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2014
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy
• Principal researcher: Thaís Cristina Chaves
• Grantee: Jennifer Diamantino de Sousa
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

During the last decades the rise of technology and computerization has brought changes in the lives of Computer Worker (COW), which started to use the computer for much longer time. Neck pain is a common complaint reported by COW and studies demonstrated a possible relationship between postural changes and the presence of neck pain, however, there are no studies that make association between body posture, ergonomics and neck pain in computer workers. This study aims to investigate possible changes in body posture in static office workers and computer users with or without history of neck pain. Participate in this study 66 COW from the University of São Paulo (Ribeirão Preto) aged between 20 and 40 years, 33 in the group with neck pain (n = 33) and 33 without report of neck pain (n = 33), meeting the following criteria include: a) neck pain complain for at least 3 months, b) functional limitation, at least mild classification for Neck Disability Index and c) pain intensity 3 in majority of the days with pain in a numerical pain scale (0-10). Workers will be recruited in a previous study and must contemplate the inclusion criteria to participate in the subsequent evaluation of static posture by photogrammetry. Quantitative evaluation of the images will be done using software version 3.1 CorporisPro. Will be assessed 15 postural angles in 4 photographic records (Close the face, body sagittal profile view, anterior and posterior). It is expected that this work contribute to establish a relationship between cervical disorders and possible postural deviations in computer workers.