Study of the effect of hand-arm vibration on hand grip strength

Abstract

Introduction: Musculoskeletal injuries are one of the most common causes of work-related illnes, reimbursement and absence among workers in working environments throughout the world. Among various factors, exposure to vibration is one of the main causes of these injuries. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of key factors on the occurrence and exacerbation of the effects of exposure of hand - arm to vibration.
 Materials and Methods: In this study, the amount of vibration as well as the amount of grasp force for 57 workers working with pneumatic torque wrench in an automobile industry was measured.
 Results: The main findings of the study showed that the mean grasp force of the workers after exposure to vibration decreased from 43.22 to 40.90 kg. The results of this study can provide valuable information on designing tools, controlling the incidence and outbreak of vibrational disorders.
 Conclusion: Based on the results obtained in this study, an average of 5.67% reduction was observed in grasp force. Moreover, due to the strong correlation between the mean grasp force difference of workers before and after exposure to vibration and a 4-hour acceleration in the X axis, it can be concluded that the critical axis of the hand-arm vibration is in the X-axis in the pneumatic torque wrench.