2020 Volume 7 Issue 1 Pages 32-37
Objective: Young workers using visual display terminals (VDTs) commonly suffer from lumbago. During general health check-ups, chest X-ray photographs (Xps) of examinees complaining of lumbago and/or knee pain often show spinal distortion. We therefore quantified this observation for workers using VDTs. Since it is difficult to measure the Cobb angle commonly used in orthopedics solely from routine health check-up data, we measured the distance from the spinous process to the center of the bronchus on chest Xp frontal images, and defined it as an index of spinal distortion. We examined the statistical significance of this index to examine its usefulness as a means of explaining the cause of lumbago in general health check-ups.
Methods: The subjects were 91 VDT (visual display terminal) workers (age 43.6± 11.0 years, 63 men; 28 women). Chest Xps were taken using a CXDI system (Canon, Tokyo). We excluded those with marked aortic sclerosis and aberrant azygous interlobar fissures. Correct posture was achieved by placing both shoulders on the chest Xp board. The deviation from the central bronchus to the spinous process was measured using a function for measuring the distance between two points in DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) images.
Results: Based on questionnaire responses, subjects with headaches had significantly larger spinal distortion than subjects without headaches (p <0.02), and those with lumbago had a significantly larger spinal distortion than those without lumbago (p <0.05).
Conclusion: Lumbago and headache stemming from physical fatigue in VDT workers could be associated with spinal distortion.
