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Effects of Using a Shoulder/Scapular Brace on the Posture and Muscle Activity of Healthy University Students during Prolonged Typing—A Randomized Controlled Cross-Over Trial

Laptop use appears to contribute to poor working postures and neck pain among university students. Postural braces have the potential to improve upper back/neck posture and therefore might have a role as an ergonomic aid for this population. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the sho...

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Autores principales: Leung, Melissa, Kan, Mandy M. P., Cheng, Hugo M. H., De Carvalho, Diana E., Anwer, Shahnawaz, Li, Heng, Wong, Arnold Y. L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10252399/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37297695
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11111555
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author Leung, Melissa
Kan, Mandy M. P.
Cheng, Hugo M. H.
De Carvalho, Diana E.
Anwer, Shahnawaz
Li, Heng
Wong, Arnold Y. L.
author_facet Leung, Melissa
Kan, Mandy M. P.
Cheng, Hugo M. H.
De Carvalho, Diana E.
Anwer, Shahnawaz
Li, Heng
Wong, Arnold Y. L.
author_sort Leung, Melissa
collection PubMed
description Laptop use appears to contribute to poor working postures and neck pain among university students. Postural braces have the potential to improve upper back/neck posture and therefore might have a role as an ergonomic aid for this population. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the short-term effects of scapular bracing on pain, fatigue, cervicothoracic posture, and the activity of the neck and upper-back muscles in healthy college students. A randomized controlled crossover trial was conducted to evaluate the self-reported pain and fatigue, the amplitude and median frequency of surface electromyography in neck extensors, upper trapezius, and lower trapezius, as well as the neck and shoulder sagittal alignment (measured by inertial sensors and digital photographs) during a 30-min typing task in a sample of young, healthy university students with or without a scapular brace. The brace condition resulted in significantly smaller levels of bilateral trapezius muscle activity (p < 0.01). Rounded shoulder posture was slightly better in the brace condition, but these differences were not significant (p > 0.05). There were no significant immediate differences in pain or fatigue scores, neck alignment, or the electromyographic activity of the other muscles tested between brace and non-brace conditions (all p > 0.05). However, bracing appears to immediately reduce the electromyographic activity of the lower trapezius muscles (p < 0.05). These findings shed some light on the possible advantages of scapular bracing for enhancing laptop ergonomics in this group of individuals. Future studies are warranted to evaluate the effects of different types of braces, the importance of matching the brace to the user, and the short- and long-term effects of brace use on computer posture and muscle activity.
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spelling pubmed-102523992023-06-10 Effects of Using a Shoulder/Scapular Brace on the Posture and Muscle Activity of Healthy University Students during Prolonged Typing—A Randomized Controlled Cross-Over Trial Leung, Melissa Kan, Mandy M. P. Cheng, Hugo M. H. De Carvalho, Diana E. Anwer, Shahnawaz Li, Heng Wong, Arnold Y. L. Healthcare (Basel) Article Laptop use appears to contribute to poor working postures and neck pain among university students. Postural braces have the potential to improve upper back/neck posture and therefore might have a role as an ergonomic aid for this population. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the short-term effects of scapular bracing on pain, fatigue, cervicothoracic posture, and the activity of the neck and upper-back muscles in healthy college students. A randomized controlled crossover trial was conducted to evaluate the self-reported pain and fatigue, the amplitude and median frequency of surface electromyography in neck extensors, upper trapezius, and lower trapezius, as well as the neck and shoulder sagittal alignment (measured by inertial sensors and digital photographs) during a 30-min typing task in a sample of young, healthy university students with or without a scapular brace. The brace condition resulted in significantly smaller levels of bilateral trapezius muscle activity (p < 0.01). Rounded shoulder posture was slightly better in the brace condition, but these differences were not significant (p > 0.05). There were no significant immediate differences in pain or fatigue scores, neck alignment, or the electromyographic activity of the other muscles tested between brace and non-brace conditions (all p > 0.05). However, bracing appears to immediately reduce the electromyographic activity of the lower trapezius muscles (p < 0.05). These findings shed some light on the possible advantages of scapular bracing for enhancing laptop ergonomics in this group of individuals. Future studies are warranted to evaluate the effects of different types of braces, the importance of matching the brace to the user, and the short- and long-term effects of brace use on computer posture and muscle activity. MDPI 2023-05-25 /pmc/articles/PMC10252399/ /pubmed/37297695 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11111555 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Leung, Melissa
Kan, Mandy M. P.
Cheng, Hugo M. H.
De Carvalho, Diana E.
Anwer, Shahnawaz
Li, Heng
Wong, Arnold Y. L.
Effects of Using a Shoulder/Scapular Brace on the Posture and Muscle Activity of Healthy University Students during Prolonged Typing—A Randomized Controlled Cross-Over Trial
title Effects of Using a Shoulder/Scapular Brace on the Posture and Muscle Activity of Healthy University Students during Prolonged Typing—A Randomized Controlled Cross-Over Trial
title_full Effects of Using a Shoulder/Scapular Brace on the Posture and Muscle Activity of Healthy University Students during Prolonged Typing—A Randomized Controlled Cross-Over Trial
title_fullStr Effects of Using a Shoulder/Scapular Brace on the Posture and Muscle Activity of Healthy University Students during Prolonged Typing—A Randomized Controlled Cross-Over Trial
title_full_unstemmed Effects of Using a Shoulder/Scapular Brace on the Posture and Muscle Activity of Healthy University Students during Prolonged Typing—A Randomized Controlled Cross-Over Trial
title_short Effects of Using a Shoulder/Scapular Brace on the Posture and Muscle Activity of Healthy University Students during Prolonged Typing—A Randomized Controlled Cross-Over Trial
title_sort effects of using a shoulder/scapular brace on the posture and muscle activity of healthy university students during prolonged typing—a randomized controlled cross-over trial
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10252399/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37297695
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11111555
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