Neck Pain Disability and Smartphone Addiction Among College Students Before and During COVID-19 Confinement: A Pilot Study.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase in the use of smartphone technology, which can be associated with several negative health effects such as neck pain disability. The present study explored the association between smartphone addiction and disability associated with neck pain among female health science students before and 2 months after the start of COVID-19 confinement. Data were obtained for this pilot study from 39 students before the pandemic and 2 months after the start of confinement using two self-administered questionnaires, the Neck Disability Index and Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version. The results showed that while there was an increase in smartphone use after the start of confinement, the before and after confinement difference was negligible. Surprisingly, smartphone addiction and neck pain disability seemed to decrease after the start of the confinement. Further, while there was a moderate but significant correlation between smartphone addiction and neck pain disability before the COVID-19 confinement, this correlation was insignificant after the start of confinement. These findings could be explained by other factors, such as the position in which the devices were used, but they need to be investigated further through larger multicenter cohorts with long-term follow-up.