Evaluating the effects of wearing gloves and wrist support on hand-arm response while operating an in-line pneumatic screwdriver

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of wearing a glove a nd wrist support on hand-arm response while operating an in-line pneumatic screwdriver. Hand-arm response was investigated in terms of triggering fing er force, flexor digitorum EMG and hand-transmitted vibration. Four glove l evels (barehanded, cotton, nylon and open-finger), and two wrist support le vels (wearing, and not wearing) were evaluated. Thirteen healthy male subje cts drove screws into a horizontally mounted iron plate with pre-tapped scr ew holes using an in-line pneumatic screwdriver in the randomly ordered exp erimental conditions. The results indicate that wearing a nylon glove and n ot using a wrist support is the best combination among the eight evaluated experimental conditions. Wearing a nylon glove reduced 18.2% of the trigger ing force as compared with the barehanded condition. In addition, wearing a nylon glove had comparatively low forearm muscular exertion, and reduced 1 6% and 15% of hand-transmitted vibration in the z-axis and the sum of 3-axe s as compared with the barehanded condition. The use of a wrist support req uired a greater triggering force and a 9.9% greater hand-transmitted vibrat ion in the y-axis than when not using a wrist support.