BACKGROUND:

The objective of this study was to investigate risk factors associated with persistent or recurrent upper extremity and neck pain among engineering graduate students.

METHODS:

A random sample of 206 Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) graduate students at a large public university completed an online questionnaire.

RESULTS:

Approximately 60% of respondents reported upper extremity or neck pain attributed to computer use and reported a mean pain severity score of 4.5 (+/-2.2; scale 0-10). In a final logistic regression model, female gender, years of computer use, and hours of computer use per week were significantly associated with pain.

CONCLUSIONS:

The high prevalence of upper extremity pain reported by graduate students suggests a public health need to identify interventions that will reduce symptom severity and prevent impairment.