Impact Of Smartphone Usage While Walking on Dynamically Challenging Ground on the Gait and Posture in College Students

This study investigates the impact of smartphone usage on gait and posture in college students while walking on dynamically challenging ground. The dual-task interference posed by smartphone use, which reduces situational awareness and affects gait and posture, increasing fall risk. This is a cross-sectional observational design study involving 122 university students selected through convenience sampling. Participants are assessed using the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV), and gait/posture parameters are measured via 2-D gait analysis using GaitON or Kinovea software. The walking tasks are conducted under three conditions: without smartphone, with smartphone, and on unimpeded ground, across dynamically challenging surfaces created using obstacles. Gait and Postural parameters will be analyzed at one-minute intervals over a three-minute trial. This approach aims to evaluate how smartphone distractions influence biomechanical and postural adaptations during multitasking in real-life walking scenarios.