Perceived Joint Discomfort Rating in Neck and Back Movement away from Neutral in Sitting and Standing Posture

Abstract

The objectives of the study is to observe the effects of deviation from neutral position on the perceived joint discomfort rating in neck and back in sitting and standing position. It is an observational study. Subjects were recruited from Dolphin (P.G.) Institute of Biomedical and Natural Science, Dehradun. A total of 40 subjects were recruited for the study on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria after signing the informed consent form. Comparison of perceived joint discomfort was done in different static positions of cervical and lumbar spine between sitting and standing postures. The results show that lateral flexion of the neck was the position in which maximum perceived joint discomfort was recorded both for sitting and standing position, but the difference was statistically, significant only for right lateral flexion. All other positions recorded lesser degrees of perceived joint discomfort but with statistically significant difference between sitting and standing position. Lateral flexion of the back was the position in which maximum perceived joint discomfort was recorded both for sitting and standing position and was statistically significant for right and left lateral flexion. All the other positions also showed statistically significant difference between sitting and standing except for forward flexion. Conclusions show that lateral bending produced the maximum discomfort for both cervical and lumbar static joint postures. The discomfort was more in standing as compared to sitting joint postures.

Keywords: Perceived joint discomfort, neck, back, static posture, sitting, standing