Background: Previous investigations on the epidemiology of neck pain in South Africa were limited to the White and Black populations to the exclusion of Indians. Thus the purpose of this study was to create a profile of neck pain and provide an overview of risk factors with particular interest to the Indian population. Objectives: These included the investigation of neck pain prevalence, neck pain clinical characteristics and risk factors for neck pain in the Indian population in the greater Durban area. Method: The first criterion for sample selection the establishment of suburbs within the greater Durban area. Secondly the three most densely populated Indian suburbs were chosen and ranked according to income potential, to ensure a balanced sample. An equal number of residents in each suburb were targeted, with a minimum of 600 respondents. Statistical Program for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 15.0 was used to analyse the data. Results: The demographics indicated that the respondents were predominantly matriculated (40.3%), married (57.9%), men (55.7%) of active (94%) Hindu or Christian religion (43%) with a mean age of 36.7 years and a BMI of 24.8 kg/m2. The prevalence of neck pain was 36.83%, with an annual incidence of 28.83%. Original neck pain lasted 8.56 years with a Numerical Rating Scale reading of 4.97. The seldom experienced pain was affected by lifting, sleeping and concentration. In contrast recent neck pain lasted 50.4 days with a Numerical Rating Scale reading of 4.02. The more frequently experienced pain was equally affected by sleeping and lifting. Common risk factors identified for neck pain generally were stress, cycling, favouring one side when carrying a heavy object and suffering from headaches, shoulder pain and / or back pain. The findings of this study supported previous studies, although there were some significant differences. These included males having had a higher prevalence (55.7%) than females (44.3%), as well as watching television being a preventative factor to neck pain. v Conclusions and Recommendations: Thus the prevalence and risk factors of neck pain in the Indian population were comparable to international norms. It was however noted that stratified gender sampling should perhaps have been utilised to strengthen this study and causality of factors in relation to neck pain could not be determined. Both these limitations allow for future research opportunities.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for a Masters Degree in Technology: Chiropractic, Durban University of Technology, 2010. / The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of and risk factors for neck pain in the white population in the greater Durban area. The rational for this study was that there have been few epidemiological studies done on neck pain and even less when concerning different population groups. Discrepancies between population groups have been found in various pain related studies. The present epidemiological study eliminated any possible variables between population groups by studying only the white population in a specific geographical area (Durban). Therefore, physicians treating people with neck pain should use the risk factors that were established in this and other studies and integrate them in their treatment protocol. The study was conducted at three shopping centres around Durban that were randomly selected. Each shopping centre was grouped by the socio-economic status of the surrounding suburbs. There were 900 participants surveyed at three shopping centres by means of a questionnaire. The data were then statistically analysed using SPSS version 15. It was found that the overall prevalence of neck pain was 45%. The participants in this study that had neck pain were more likely to be females that were married or previously married, had a job that caused their heads to turn or to work with their arms above their heads. Lifestyle factors included one or a combination of the following: lead a stressful lifestyle, were emotional, had perceived bad posture, had previously experienced neck or head trauma, slept in awkward positions, watched television, required glasses and did not play squash.