Musculoskeletal pain in college students: a systematic review

Introduction: To date, there is no systematic study focused on posture-related musculoskeletal pain in college students. Objective: Summarize the evidence of musculoskeletal pain in college students. Eligible criteria: Year of publication between 2015 and 2020, observational studies published in English, full text available, and analysis of the presence of musculoskeletal pain in college students. MESH terms and Boolean operators used for the search were pain AND musculoskeletal AND college students. Data sources: Databases used were PubMed, ClinicalKey, ProQuest, ResearchGate, and ScienceDirect. Results: A total of 318 records were identified out of which 296 were excluded, and only 22 were included for analysis. The majority of the records involved college students form the general population, while five involved dental students and five, health science students. The majority of the records involved a setting in which the student was in a constant sitting position, only two involved a dental setting, and one involved a laboratory setting. Conclusions: The most reported sites of pain were neck, shoulders, and upper and lower back.