The Influence of Forearm and Wrist Orientation on Static Grip Strength as a Design Criterion for Hand Tools

Abstract

The amount of force required to use a hand tool and its relationship to the user's capacity to exert this force is a critical design criterion of hand tools, often affecting the immediate safety of the tool user and the propensity of the tool to cause injury to the user with long-term use. Because the wrist is often placed in deviated positions, the available data on grip strength with an undeviated wrist configuration may not be applicable to the design of many hand tools. This study demonstrates the decreases in grip strength due to wrist deviations and forearm rotation. The position of maximal static grip strength is the neutral wrist with a supinated forearm. Decrements from the neutral position for wrist flexion, hyperextension, radial flexion and ulnar flexion are 30%, 22%, 18% and 15%, respectively. The pronated forearm allows only 87% of the strength of the supinated forearm, and the differences between the supinated and the midposition forearm are not significant.