Pain in the neck? Get an eye test

People who suffer from back and neck pain following computer use may need their eyes examined, a team of university researchers has concluded.

With millions of people using computers at work a US-Swedish research team is investigating the possible connection between eye problems and neck and back complaints in a cross-disciplinary study.

Researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institute at Uppsala University, and US associate professor Hans O Richter at Gvle University College have examined whether eye problems can cause musculo-skeletal complaints and vice versa.

Focusing the lens of the eye requires coordination between various nerve and muscle groups in the eye, neck, and shoulder region. The connection between these causal factors has now been published in the European Journal of Neuroscience (June 24) by the research team, which includes the University of Minnesota.

The group has shown that by placing an optical lens over the eye - and at the same time seeing to it that the lack of focus incurred is compensated for by relaxing the accommodation - the section of the cerebral cortex that regulates muscular movement in the head, neck, and shoulder region is affected.

The experiments were carried out using a positron emission tomography (PET) camera, where radioactive marker substances were used to monitor the activity in the brain of volunteers who were asked to focus on different types of stimuli under varying optical conditions.

Richter said: 'It is vital to seek further knowledge of how tensing and relaxing the neck, throat, and shoulders affects the eyes and how eye complaints can trigger and/or aggravate muscular aches in the shoulders and/or neck region.

More than 60 million people in the EU work with computers, and many of them experience vision problems in connection with computer-screen work.