The interaction of wearing multifocal lenses with head posture and pain

Chronic placement of the head anterior to the body's center of gravity can be a component in the development of neurovascular and musculoskeletal dysfunction. In order to evaluate and treat dysfunction and pain, physical therapists need to be aware of variables that can affect head position. The objectives of this study were to investigate the interaction between wearing multifocal lenses and head posture; to determine the interaction of forward head posture and upper quarter pain; and to determine the intratester reliability of a head posture gauge. Head posture and self-reported pain were collected on 25 randomly chosen multifocal lens wearers between the ages of 40 and 50 and compared with a similar group of nonmultifocal lens wearers. The mean forward head posture in the two groups were significantly different (t = 2.06, one-tailed, p = 0.023). Subjects wearing multifocal lenses had a greater degree of forward head posture when compared with nonmultifocal lens wearers. A one-way analysis of variance was used to compare forward head posture with pain. In this sample, mean forward head posture levels did not differ significantly according to level of pain (p = 0.15). Intratester reliability of the head posture gauge was demonstrated to be high through the use of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC = 0.99). Wearing multifocal lenses may influence a person to hold his/her head in a position more forward than the ideal postural alignment.