An anthropometric survey of Korean hand and hand shape types

Abstract

Some tools or interfaces designed not to fit the size of individuals make users experience discomfort and lower productivity. Previous studies on hands tend to focus only on measuring lengths of various hand parts and reporting the distribution of these measurements. In order to overcome this, we aim to distinguish major factors that determine hand shapes and categorize the hand shapes of Koreans. 321 people (167 males and 154 females) enrolled as subjects of this study by their own will. 21 hand dimensions including length, breadth, and circumference of the hand were measured. T-value and correlation coefficients were compared to identify the difference of measurement values and the relation between hand measurements and heights. Factor and cluster analysis was conducted to identify hand shape types of Korean. Descriptive statistics of Korean hand dimension were presented. 78.3% of the variance of hand shape was explained by 3 major factors (factor 1: hand breadth, factor 2: palm length, factor 3: finger length). We also distinguished 4 hand shape types and found that wide hand and short finger type (type 1) was the most common in males, but narrow hand and short finger type was the most common in females. Korean males and females had wider hands and shorter fingers than the people of 8 other nations. We expect products and interfaces to be designed based on these understandings on the characteristics of Korean hands that the result of our study suggests.