Abstract

Introduction: In the present era, the increasing use of Smartphone as brought about numerous musculoskeletal discomforts of which Neck Pain is the common and overuse of smartphone can lead to Smartphone Addiction (SA) which is related to Alexithymia in a south gujarat region. Method: A group of students of age groups 17-27 years were recruited from different colleges of South Gujarat through convenient sampling technique. The prevalence of Alexithymia was calculated from enrolled 457 subjects and 117 subjects were enrolled on basis of inclusion criteria. The addiction level to a smartphone was measured using Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version (SAS-SV), Alexithymia was measured using Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) & the Neck disability was measured using the Neck Disability Index (NDI). Result: The study showed Alexithymics with a prevalence of 52% and SA with a prevalence of 59%.The Spearmen correlation analysis of the result clearly showed that there was a moderate positive correlation between SAS-SV & TAS (r=0.63, p>0.05) and also between SAS-SV & NDI (r=0.52, p>0.05) but there was no significant correlation between the variables (r >0.05). Conclusion: The study concluded that the Smartphone addicted subjects showed significant features of alexithymia, neck pain and disability in this age group due to excessive smartphone use.

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