Musculoskeletal disorder and pain associated with smartphone use: A systematic review of biomechanical evidence.

The review included cross-sectional laboratory studies, not randomised trials or clinical treatment studies. All included studies were rated moderate quality, and none showed blinding, randomisation, allocation concealment or adverse events. The laboratory tasks were short and standardised, so they may not match real-life smartphone use. Participants were mostly university students or young healthy adults, so findings may not apply to older or more symptomatic people. Power calculations were not reported for most studies. Only English publications were searched, and the review could not combine outcomes statistically. Because studies were cross-sectional and often lacked confounder control, they cannot show that smartphone use caused the symptoms.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest, and the review received no funding.

Do not conclude that smartphone use causes musculoskeletal pain or that posture advice prevents it. The evidence comes from short laboratory studies in mostly young healthy people, and the review found associations rather than tested treatment effects.