Musculoskeletal disorders, perceived stress, and ergonomic risk factors among pakistani smartphone esports athletes

Background: Smartphone eSports athletes face various health risks due to prolonged sitting and poor posture.Objective: To investigate the frequency of musculoskeletal disorders, perceived stress levels, health risks and ergonomic risk factors among smartphone eSports athletes and determine the association between levels of perceived stress and MSDs.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 145 participants. Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), questionnaire on health risks and rapid upper limb assessment (RULA) were used to collect data. The chi-square test determined the association between MSDs and perceived stress.Results: The study revealed that neck pain was the most prevalent issue, affecting 41.4% of the participants, followed by shoulder pain (31%) and lower back pain (29%). The participants reported moderate to high levels of perceived stress and were at high ergonomic risk due to poor posture and muscle use. While no significant association was found between the 12-month prevalence of MSDs and perceived stress, a significant link was observed between the 7-day prevalence of pain in elbows and perceived stress (χ2=20.15, p=0.003). Similarly, the 7-day prevalence of elbow pain and shoulder pain showed a significant association with the type of chair used by players during smartphone gaming (χ2=22.748, p=0.001), (χ2=22.223, p=0.001).Conclusion: The study underscores the high prevalence of MSDs and moderate to high levels of perceived stress among eSports athletes, who are at significant ergonomic risk due to poor posture. While no significant association was found between the prevalence of MSDs and perceived stress levels, except for the pain in elbows in the last 7 days, the findings highlight the need for interventions to address these health risks among smartphone eSports athletes.