The Relationship between Mobile Phone Addiction and Changes in Spinal Column Angles of Male High School Students with Endomorphic Body Type.

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to determine the relationship between the duration of mobile phone usage and the changes in lordotic, kyphotic, and forward head angles in male students with endomorphic body types in high school boys.

Methods: This descriptive-correlational study was conducted on male students aged 13 to 15 years in high school boys in Farooj City during the academic year 2022-2023. Using the Morgan table, 200 individuals were selected from the population through simple random sampling, with an average weight of 58.06 ± 9.26 kilograms and an average height of 163.94 ± 7.66 centimeters. Various tools and instruments such as an informed consent form, stadiometer, digital scale, caliper, tape measure, smartphone addiction scale questionnaire, kyphometer, flexible ruler, and craniovertebral angle measurement device were used for data collection. The data were analyzed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to check for normality. Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients were used to determine the relationship between variables, and the analyses were carried out at a 95% confidence level. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 20.

Results: The results of Spearman's correlation coefficient showed that there is a significant positive relationship between the level of addiction to smartphones and the kyphotic angle (r = 0.416, P = 0.0001), lordotic angle (r = 0.185, P = 0.009), and forward head angle (r = 0.425, P = 0.0001) among male students in high school boys with an endomorphic body type.

Conclusions: The study found that male students with an endomorphic body type who have a higher addiction to smartphones tend to have increased kyphotic, lordotic, and forward head angles. This is concerning, considering adolescents are more sensitive to growth and typically spend much time on their phones. Educating this group on proper smartphone use is essential to avoid potential adverse effects like spinal column abnormalities. The suggested solutions include paying attention to proper posture while sleeping, sitting, walking, and standing and using educational media to study.