Assessing the Prevalence of Recurrent Neck and Shoulder Pain in Korean High School Male Students: A Cross-sectional Observational Study.
BACKGROUND
Neck and shoulder pain (NSP) is fairly common in adolescents, which is associated with a high prevalence of NSP found during adulthood as well; therefore, its significance during adolescence should not be underestimated. We surveyed the prevalence of recurrent NSP, lifestyle, and risk factors in Korean high school students, and examined the influence of recurrent NSP on the quality of life.


METHODS
Nine hundred thirty one male students (16-19 years old) from two academic high schools in Seoul were included in this study. The survey consisted of a questionnaire to assess the prevalence of recurrent NSP, with questions regarding having an occurrence more than once a week, characteristics of NSP, activity and lifestyle of the students, and the risk factors for recurrent NSP. A 36-item Short Form questionnaire was also examined.


RESULTS
We found that 44.3% of the high school students surveyed had recurrent NSP (more than once a week) and the overall prevalence of NSP was 79.1%. The average sitting time was 10.2 ± 2.7 h/day. 59.0% did not sit straight, 14.7% used assisting devices during reading, and 11.9% answered that they stretched regularly. Found from their self assessed health, frequent fatigue and frequent depressed mood presented significant associations with the higher prevalence of recurrent NSP.


CONCLUSIONS
Korean high school students had a high prevalence of recurrent NSP. Clinical attention is needed for the prevention and resolution of recurrent NSP found in high school students.
St. Mark's School, U.S.A.
Min Jung
MJ
Koh
Sun Young
SY
Park
Young Sun
YS
Woo
Sung Hyun
SH
Kang
Sang Hoon
SH
Park
Hye Jung
HJ
Chun
Eun Jung
EJ
Park