Relationship Of Rounded Shoulder Posture With Peak Expiratory Flow Rate In Undergraduate Medical Students Having Mechanical Neck Pain

Background:

Undergraduate medical and allied health sciences students spend a large part of their day studying in numerous wrong positions for a prolonged time, of which they are unaware. This leads to the development of back discomfort and may affect the structural development of the spine. Lack of focus on posture, giving too little time to physical activity and mental stress have been reported to cause musculoskeletal problems such as RSP and MNP.

This study aims to determine the relationship between Mechanical Neck Pain and Rounded Shoulder Posture on Peak Expiratory Flow Rate in Undergraduate Medical and Allied health sciences students.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study was conducted on undergraduate medical students with a sample size of 218 where 113 were females and 105 were male. Pearson correlation test was applied to check the relationship of RSP and PEFR in students having MNP. Two questionnaires were used NPQ, for checking the level of neck disability and pain, and a self-structured questionnaire where general questions were asked and values of RSP and PEFR were noted. The degree of RSP was checked through the vernier caliper manually whereas PEFR was calculated by taking the mean of three values taken from each participant through flow meter. The data was analyzed and presented in the form of mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentage and Pearson correlation test by using SPSS version 29.

Results:

In the study, the Pearson correlation test shows that the RSP has an effect on PEFR in participants having MNP. The mean and standard deviation of the Rounded Shoulder Posture is 8.33±1.75 and PEFR is 265.11 ±112.11. The test shows that the p-value is <0.01 and the r-value is 0.239. The significance is <0.01 which shows there is a correlation between RSP and PEFR, whereas when we applied the same test to participants having only MNP with PEFR, no significance (<0.426)   was seen.

Conclusion:

It was concluded that there is a relationship of RSP with PEFR as the more abnormal posture, the more degree of rounded shoulder therefore there will be a significant decrease in the level of expiratory flow.