Postural Alignment Exercise Mobile App for Cervical and Thoracic Spine Regions

Marmara University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Development and Design of Mobile App; Cervical and Thoracic Spine; Exercise Adherence; Preventive Physiotherapy

Treatments: Other: App-based group; Other: Control group

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04784793

09.2018.069

Details and patient eligibility

About

Postural alignment in the cervical and thoracic regions is affected by various risks such as smartphone use in particular young adults. The small screen of smartphones causes ergonomic risk for posture and musculoskeletal system. Previous studies found that neck, shoulder, and upper back pain associated with the overuse of smartphones. Neck pain often arises from unideal postures. Participants should be informed about these risks and encouraged to exercise to be protective. Digital health apps' use is rising by the day and health apps offer opportunities for both healthcare professionals and users.

Therefore, this study aimed to develop an app including preventive exercise interventions to keep postural alignment in cervical and thoracic spine regions employing an iterative, user-centred design and to test the usability of the app and evaluate its effectiveness with a pilot randomized controlled trial

Enrollment: 40 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 25 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• to be a university student aged 18-25, to be a smartphone user for more than 3 years with more than three hours daily use.

Exclusion criteria

• if they had any chronic health problems (rheumatic, orthopedic, neurological, cardiopulmonary, vestibular system), any trauma in the neck/upper back/upper limb region in the last six months, had a congenital deformity, had received another treatment or having surgery in last one year.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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40 participants in 5 patient groups

Phase1: Design and development

No Intervention group

Description:

We conducted focus group meetings to discuss the content, features and design of the app. The focus group consisted of physiotherapists and young adults. The focus group members discussed the variety of topics in subgroups (login parameters, self-monitoring, exercises content, video or animation types, exercise diary, reminders, encouragement, method, etc).

Phase 2: Testing the app

No Intervention group

Description:

We tested the prototype version app interface in the 2nd phase. All participants downloaded the prototype app and used the app for one week.

Phase 3: Usability evaluation

No Intervention group

Description:

We conduct a think-aloud interview and evaluate the quantitative usability in the third phase. The quantitative usability was assessed by the System Usability Scale (SUS), and the adapted Usability, Satisfaction and Ease to Use (USE) Questionnaire.

Phase 4: Pilot randomized controlled trial/ The app-based group

Active Comparator group

Description:

The app-based group: Participants in the intervention group received their smartphone-based- home exercise program.

Treatment:

Other: App-based group

Phase 4: Pilot randomized controlled trial/ The control group

Experimental group

Description:

The control group: Participants in the control group received their home exercise programs as a paper handout.

Treatment:

Other: Control group