Investigating the impact of demographic factors and working with computers on the hand grip and pinch strength of office workers

Abstract

Introduction: In office tasks, pinch gripping of tools such as pen, paper, mouse, and keys are required during most working hours. This study aimed to determine the effect of demographic factors and working with a computer on office workers' hand grip and pinch strength.
 Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional analytical study, after recording the demographic characteristics, the hand grip and pinch strength of 174 employees of 20 offices of Birjand city with at least 3 hours of daily computer work was measured using a Jamar hand dynamometer and Saehan pinch gauge. The data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software version 16. In addition to descriptive statistics, ANOVA, independent t-test, and Pearson correlation coefficient were used.
 Results: The mean and standard deviation related to the age of the subjects were 37.5 ± 7.15 and 13 ± 7.35 years. The relationship between the hand grip and pinch strength with the variables of sex, height, weight, and Handedness (except the tip of the males) was significant (P<0.05), but with the variables of BMI, work experience, and age (except palmar of the dominant hand) was not significant. Computer work duration significantly affected the dominant hand's grip strength and both hands' palmar and tip pinch (P<0.05).
 Conclusion: The results of this study show the effect of computer work duration on reducing office workers' hand grip and pinch strength. Therefore, it is recommended to apply ergonomic principles to maintain hand grip and pinch strength of computer users.