Technology Versus Health: The Occurrence of Muscle-Skeleton Lesions in Undergraduates Using Notebooks

Abstract

The notebook reached the peak of technological inventions in the early 21st century, featuring compactness and portability. However, excessive use, bad body posture and the ergonomic limitations of the notebook may trigger muscle-skeleton lesions. Current paper investigates, through a descriptive, exploratory, transversal and quantitative study, the occurrence of muscle-skeleton lesions in university students using the notebook. Sample comprised 246 students from a private institution for higher education and the questionnaire comprised 17 questions. Inclusion criteria comprised usage of the notebook for at least 60 min/day and the absence of lesions in the higher members of the body. Further, 43% of the students were 18 - 19 years old; 58.9% did not practice any physical exercises; 65.8% ignored periodic pauses and stretching; 39.6% used the notebook for one or two hours per day; 40.2% used it while sitting, with the notebook on a table, with discomfiture for the lumbar (42.6%) and cervical (36.17%) column. Moreover, 84.4% are right-handed. High occurrence of cervical and lumbar pain may be related to body position (portable computer on the table), which increased cervical flexion. Lumbar pain is affected by long periods in a sitting position, increasing the compression of intervertebral discs. Pain in the right hand may be due to excessive typing on the dominant side.