Correlation of Static Balance and Smartphone Usage in Physiotherapy Students

Abstract

In modern society, multifunctional smartphones are widely used in our daily lives. Nearly 91% of college students keep their neck bent while using their smartphones. These activities have led to a rapid increase in global smartphone usage, changing the dynamic balance of users.
There is a lack of knowledge about the effects of smartphone usage on static balance and the factors associated with smartphone use-related balance disorders. The current study aims to assess the correlation of static balance disorders among the smartphone users who are physiotherapy students, therefore the objective of the study is to assess smartphone usage and static balance and their correlation in physiotherapy students.
80 Participants of both genders age between 18–25 years using a smartphone with > 6 months duration and daily smartphone screen time is 2 hours were included in this study.
Participants were instructed to perform static balance test; Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) was used to assess balance. The smartphone addiction scale was used to assess smartphone usage. Correlation between SAS and BESS were checked, according to Pearson’s correlation, the correlation coefficient i.e. “r” value came out to be 0.085. This shows that there is poor positive correlation between SAS and BESS. Hence, The study confirms that there is a poor positive correlation between static balance and smartphone usage in Physiotherapy students.