Authors : M. Melvin David; A. Aruna Kumari; Meharunnisa A. K.; Merin Joy; M. Swathi; M. Premavathi

Volume/Issue : Volume 11 - 2026, Issue 10 - October

Google Scholar : https://tinyurl.com/79ua7p2a

DOI : https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/26Oct1139

Note : A published paper may take 4-5 working days from the publication date to appear in PlumX Metrics, Semantic Scholar, and ResearchGate.

Abstract : Background: Nowadays, smartphones and digital screens have become a regular part of study life for nursing, physiotherapy, and allied health students. Reading PDF notes and watching lectures on mobile phones for long hours often makes students bend their necks forward without noticing it. Although this problem is commonly called text neck syndrome, it is still unclear whether neck disability comes mainly from total daily screen hours or from the actual physical load placed on the neck due to faulty sitting postures.  Objectives: This study aimed to find the prevalence of self-reported neck disability among healthcare students in Kuppam, measure their daily screen time from smartphone tracking logs, calculate their physical neck tension in natural study postures, and find a safe diagnostic cut-off value for cervical spine loading.

Keywords : Text Neck Syndrome; Neck Disability Index (NDI); Screen Time; Cervical Tension; Study Posture; Healthcare Students; Dorothea Orem Self-Care Deficit Theory.

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