An assessment of hand volumetric and temperature changes during office related repetitive activities.
BACKGROUND
Hand usage and movement is routinely performed by all individuals daily irrespective of age. These movements can vary and can be repetitive in nature. Exposure of the hard and soft tissues of the hand to prolonged repetitive activities could contribute to the development of work related upper limb disorders (WRULD).


OBJECTIVE
Within the work setting, work related upper limb disorders (WRULDs) rank high in the United Kingdom (UK), second only to back complaints. This paper reports the amount of tendon travel and swelling that occurs in the hand during repetitive office activities associated with WRULDs.


PARTICIPANTS
Nine healthy adults (five males; four females) participated in the study.


METHODS
A 30-minute laboratory-based simulated office activity that consisted of data entry, mouse clicking and dragging, and mouse scrolling tasks was performed. Participants wore a custom-made cost effective flexible electrogoniometric glove (FEG) as two experimental conditions were tested; namely, FEG - only, and FEG using a Splint (FEG - Splint).


RESULTS
The FEG - only condition produced a higher overall tendon travel compared to the FEG - Splint condition. Both hands presented no statistically significant differences in hand temperature (p > 0.05) and hand volume increments (p > 0.05) with respect to the FEG - only and FEG - Splint office activity experiments. All participants that showed a decrease in hand volumetric measurement produced final temperature measurements lower than initial temperature measurements taken at the commencement of the experiment. Based on participants' perception, the mouse scrolling task was deemed as most strenuous.


CONCLUSION
The findings can help to advise patients on biomechanical 'risks' associated with repetitive activities.
['Ugbolue|U Chris|UC|', 'Nicol|Alexander C|AC|']
D000328:Adult D001833:Body Temperature Regulation D002349:Carpal Tunnel Syndrome D016287:Computer Peripherals D012090:Cumulative Trauma Disorders D005260:Female D006225:Hand D064368:Healthy Volunteers D006801:Humans D015994:Incidence D008297:Male D009068:Movement D009784:Occupational Diseases D009929:Organ Size D018570:Risk Assessment D012494:Sampling Studies D013997:Time Factors D006113:United Kingdom D017132:Workplace D014955:Wrist Joint
tendon travel office activity flexible electrogoniometric glove Carpal tunnel syndrome