Effect of gloves, wrist position, and age on peak three-jaw chuck pinch force. A pilot study

In many industries, environmental and/or safety considerations require the use of gloves. In an effort to quantify the effects of gloves on peak three-jaw chuck pinch force, wrist position, glove type, age, gender, and dominant/non-dominant hand differences were examined. Tool and/or task designs that utilize less static pinch-muscle effort and neutral wrist postures are assumed to be less likely to cause CTDs. Six glove types: bare hand, thermal, knit, reinforced knit, a layered combination of thermal and knit, and a layered combination of thermal and reinforced knit were used as the independent variables. Subjects were selected from three age categories (20-25, 40-45, and 60-65). For each pinch exertion condition, one of four wrist positions were employed: neutral, 45° extension, 45° flexion, and 65° flexion. Five subjects within each age-gender category were tested giving a total of 30 subjects. Each subject was asked to build up to his or her maximal voluntary contraction using a modified Caldwell regimen, and hold that pinch level for four seconds. Results were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with significant effects tested using post hoc analysis. Significant main effects were found to be wrist position, hand, glove type, and gender.