Teenagers who slouch over their computers aren't necessarily at risk of neck pain and headaches, according to the latest research.
Poor posture is often blamed for neck pain but a new study challenges this widely held belief.
Researchers at Curtin University in Perth examined the link between neck posture and neck pain in a group of adolescents and found no association.
The 17-year-olds from The Raine cohort study, involving more than 2800 subjects, were split up into four different groups and asked to sit in varying sitting positions - upright, intermediate, slumped thorax and forward head.
"None of these, however, were found to be associated with persistent neck pain, neck pain in a sitting position, or headaches in 17-year-olds," said lead author Ms Karen Richards from Curtin's School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science.
The research did, however, support evidence that bio-psychosocial factors, such as exercise frequency, depression and Body Mass Index (BMI), did have an association with headache and neck pain.
"Participants who were slumped in their thoracic spine and had their head forward when they sat were at higher odds of mild, moderate, or severe depression, while participants classified as having a more upright posture exercised more frequently," Ms Richards said.
It was also found females sit more upright than males, overweight people are more likely to sit with a forward neck posture, and taller people are more likely to sit upright.
Ms Richards notes the results are specific to 17-year-olds and might not apply to adults.
"But the findings raise questions regarding the efficacy of generic postural advice for adolescents with and without neck pain," she added.
The paper is published in the Journal of the American Physical Therapy Association.
Curtin researchers are now investigating risk factors, other than bad posture, for neck pain.
These results will be available in 2017.
