Objective and subjective evaluation of various aspects of hand performance considering protective glove’s constructional parameters

Abstract

Hands are one of the most vital parts of the body, and many tasks are carried out by hands. Particularly in industrial environments, hands may be exposed to various dangers and consequently injuries; thus protection of them is of great prominence. In this study, the effects of wearing a group of industrial protective gloves on hand performance, were investigated. The mentioned gloves varied in terms of material, thickness, and also the amount of layers. This research evaluates the effect of gloves’ constituent materials, including tarpaulin, leather, and protective layers such as neoprene and spacer, and a cotton nonwoven layer for added hand comfort, on hand performance. Objective and subjective experiments were performed for the assessment of pain threshold force, hand strength (dynamometers and gripping/lifting pipe test), tactile sensitivity (“two-point” discrimination method), and manual dexterity (bolt closure, valve opening, and wrist motion range tests) and an acceptable linear correlation was obtained between the objective and subjective (Thurston’s pair-comparison judgments) outcomes. The results showed that wearing gloves and increasing the number of gloves’ layers, improved the protective performance concerning the increased pain threshold tolerance. On the other hand, wearing multi-layer protective gloves decreased the gloved hand tactile sensitivity, strength capability, and also the range of finger and wrist motion as a measure of manual dexterity.