Investigating Hand Anthropometric Dimensions- A Case Study on Office Personnel and Car Mechanics

The present study was aimed to distinguish the effects of work type on hand dimensions and investigate the relationship between anthropometric dimensions and occupation.

The participants included 91 males in two groups, namely 51 manual labor and 40 office employees. The anthropometric data of 12 hand anthropometric dimensions were collected. A simple random method was applied to identify samples. All data were analyzed using SPSS version 18.

 All the measurements unless manual workers grip diameter were significantly greater than office personnel. The hand perimeter had the greatest value among the 12 measured dimensions while the thickness of the side little finger was the smallest one. In four dimensions, namely width of four fingers together from the central hinge; diameter of thumb to face; diameter of the index finger to face; hand thickness from index finger revealed the availability of a significant difference between manual labor jobs and office workers. Moreover, no significant relation was observed between weight and stature with hand dimension, which represents the correlation between occupation and the four dimensions.

The results of this study showed a significant difference between occupational groups in terms of the four dimensions. Therefore, it is suggested that tool designers should consider this finding in their designing process.