Postural Alignment Exercise Mobile App for Cervical and Thoracic Spine Regions
- Conditions
- Cervical and Thoracic SpineExercise AdherencePreventive PhysiotherapyDevelopment and Design of Mobile App
- Interventions
- Other: Control groupOther: App-based group
- Registration Number
- NCT04784793
- Lead Sponsor
- Marmara University
- Brief Summary
Postural alignment in the cervical and thoracic regions is affected by various risks such as smartphone use in particular young adults. The small screen of smartphones causes ergonomic risk for posture and musculoskeletal system. Previous studies found that neck, shoulder, and upper back pain associated with the overuse of smartphones. Neck pain often arises from unideal postures. Participants should be informed about these risks and encouraged to exercise to be protective. Digital health apps' use is rising by the day and health apps offer opportunities for both healthcare professionals and users.
Therefore, this study aimed to develop an app including preventive exercise interventions to keep postural alignment in cervical and thoracic spine regions employing an iterative, user-centred design and to test the usability of the app and evaluate its effectiveness with a pilot randomized controlled trial
- Detailed Description
Not available
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- COMPLETED
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 40
- to be a university student aged 18-25, to be a smartphone user for more than 3 years with more than three hours daily use.
- if they had any chronic health problems (rheumatic, orthopedic, neurological, cardiopulmonary, vestibular system), any trauma in the neck/upper back/upper limb region in the last six months, had a congenital deformity, had received another treatment or having surgery in last one year.
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Phase 4: Pilot randomized controlled trial/ The control group Control group The control group: Participants in the control group received their home exercise programs as a paper handout. Phase 4: Pilot randomized controlled trial/ The app-based group App-based group The app-based group: Participants in the intervention group received their smartphone-based- home exercise program.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Evaluation of musculoskeletal problems Baseline Musculoskeletal problems were assessed by Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire. The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire queries yes/no for nine body regions so far, in the last 12 months, and in the last 7 days of evaluation, whether ache, pain, or discomfort.
VAS Baseline and at end of the 6 weeks Neck pain was assessed by Visual Analog Scale (VAS) before and after the 6 weeks exercise program. The participants were instructed to mark a point on a line between zero (no pain) and 10 cm (maximum pain).
Neck Pain and Disability Scale Baseline and at end of the 6 weeks Functional disability associated with neck pain was evaluated by the Neck Pain and Disability Scale (NPAD) questionnaire before and after the 6 weeks exercise program. The Neck Pain and Disability Scale consists of 20 items and each item was scored from 0 to 5, and the total score is the sum of the item scores \[possible range 0 (no pain)-100 (maximal pain)\].
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Evaluation of exercise adherence At end of the 6 weeks The app automatically gathers total usage status (count of participated sessions, usage times) when participants login to the app to start an exercise program.
Exercise adherence was measured with a ratio of total participated sessions compared with the target defined.Evaluation of app satisfaction At end of the 6 weeks Users were evaluated to rate their satisfaction with the intervention on a 5-point Likert scale after 6 weeks period.
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
Marmara University
🇹🇷İstanbul, Turkey