Frequency of Thoracic Spine Disability with Forward Head Posture among Dentists of Tertiary Care Hospitals of Peshawar

Background: When the position of head is sustained in forward direction for longer period of time, chronic upper back pain syndrome occurs. Dentists are prone to develop MSK disorders compared to other professionals. There is very little evidence available that could discover the effect of thoracic spine mobility on neck dysfunction and thoracic kyphosis. Methods: This Cross sectional descriptive study is presented in which 201 dentists of 2 public and private tertiary care hospitals were recruited through purposive sampling technique after inclusion and exclusion criteria. The dentists were given Revised Oswestry Thoracic Pain Disability questionnaire and forward head posture was observed by measuring CVA. Data was then analyzed through SPSS. Results: Out of 201 participants, there were 48.8% male and 51.2% female. The mean age ±SD of the sample was 34 ±6.37 years. Headache was present in 168 participants and neck pain was present in 83.6% of the sample. Mild thoracic disability was seen in 69 dentists, among which 5 had severe forward head posture and 64 had mild forward head posture. Moderate disability was seen in 65 dentists among which 63 had severe forward head posture and 2 had mild forward head posture. Severe disability was seen in 64 dentists, 62 had severe forward head posture while 2 reported mild forward head posture. Only 3 participants were presented complete disability and all of them had severe forward head posture. The level of significance was 0.000 showing significant association between forward head posture and thoracic disability. The likelihood ratio was 185.7. Conclusion: It is concluded that dentists are more prone to develop thoracic spine disability and forward head posture, both of these are related to one another and are interconnected. The results also showed that this disability has negative impact on the professional practice of dentists and other musculoskeletal disorders like neck pain and headache are associated with forward head posture and thoracic disability.