The Study of Anthropometric Dimensions of Hand in office staffs in Urmia

The lack of fit between tools and human hand could result in musculoskeletal disorders and decrease efficiency. Designing hand tools, anthropometric data of target population is necessary. A few studies have reported the hand anthropometric dimensions of Iranians. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to measure the most important anthropometric dimensions of hand in a population of office staffs in Urmia.
In this study, 20 dimensions of dominant hand were measured in 345 participants (217 males and 128 females) using a digital caliper and a plastic tape. The important percentiles were reported by gender. Independent t-test was used to compare the mean of male and female hand dimensions. The length and width of hand were compared with the corresponding data from published literature.
The values of 5th, 50th, and 95th percentiles were calculated and tabulated by gender. The hand dimensions of men were larger than those of women. The mean of hand dimensions of men was statistically different from those of women (P=0.001). In contrast to women, the hand length and breadth of the men of this study were significantly different from those of the most of the other communities.
The results of this study could be used by designers or importers of hand tools and gloves. Considering the significant differences of hand dimensions between men and women, it is recommended to use hand dimensions of each gender for designing their related products.