Increasing screen time among children has become a growing concern, as more kids spend hours daily on gadgets like smartphones, tablets, and computers. According to experts, while digital devices can support learning and entertainment, excessive screen time can negatively impact physical and mental health.
Moreover, prolonged use is linked to issues like eye strain, sleep disruption, and even physical ailments such as myofascial pain, which affects muscles and connective tissues
Myofascial pain in children is also called “trigger point pain.” According to Dr Shiji Chalipat Consultant Pediatric Neurologist, DPU Super Specialty Hospital, Pimpri, Pune, this can be looked at as a chronic condition, which owes its origin to the development of tender areas within muscles known as trigger points.
However, in recent times, increasing use of smartphones, tablets, and computers in schools has emerged as a new cause of this type of pain. “This rising issue of myofascial pain in children was even more serious because the total lockdown of the full-blown COVID-19 pandemic was utilized as an opportunity to enter virtual learning and digital entertainment, the most suitable stimulus for such an issue,” Dr. Chalipat told Financial Express.com.
She also said that it may appear at any age of childhood but is quite common in people who keep idle or who do some job repeatedly for hours together. Knees bent forward for extended periods with devices put an enormous strain on muscles in the neck, back, and shoulders.
“Tightness from this kind of activity, as well as the development of trigger points – painful knots that sometimes may refer pain to another part of the body – can also result from failure to take breaks during such activities,” she added.
The major features of myofascial pain in children include:
- Muscle Tightness and Hardening: It typically begins by presenting as muscle tightness, especially in the neck, shoulder girdle, or back.
- Localized Pain: It is localized pain in specific regions of the trigger points, but it can also occur anywhere in the body.
- Headaches: Tension-type headaches usually are located at the back of, or on one side of, the head, often near the temples, are classic and commonly the result of tension in the neck or shoulder muscles.
- Lack of Mobility: The child will feel stiff and painful even with seemingly simple movements like turning his or her head or lifting their arms.
- Increased Sensitivity to Trigger Points: Compression of the areas where a cluster of painful muscle areas exists is called trigger points. He may feel a knifing pain when touched on trigger points.
- Sleep Disturbance: The persistent pain might interfere with sleep, hence leaving the child tired and worsening the misery.
- Psychological Impact: Pain tends to linger; therefore, it will affect mood and cause irritability or anxiety or stress and affect educational performance and mental health.
Dr. Chalipat also explained that parents can be proactive to allow their children to spend lesser amounts of time on screens thus mitigating the risk of suffering from myofascial pain.
“Suitable breaks with better posture and utilization of ergonomic devices can provide checks on strain to the muscles. Indulgence of healthy physical activity and engagement in hobbies that do not involve a screen will prevent this condition from developing in children,” she said.
“Greater screen time calls for more watchful care of the threat to myofascial pain by parents, teachers, and health workers towards the musculoskeletal health of children. Such an environment creating sensibility toward overuse risks from screens becomes vital as protection to children toward potential long-term health issues arising from screen use and offering preventive measures through education, ergonomic improvements, preventive health policies, and community initiatives toward healthier lifestyles,” she added.