The Contribution of Finger Forces to Overall Grip Force

摘要

Common risk factors for CTDs include the application of forces, awkward postures, high repetition, and long task duration. In manufacturing environments, the use of grip forces to complete manual or tool related tasks is often required. Since force is a major risk factor for injury, it is important to understand the relationship between individual finger forces and overall grip strength. This paper presents an analysis of the individual finger forces during a gripping task based on four studies previously conducted on male and female participants. The objective is to investigate the individual finger forces compared to the overall grip strength during maximum exertion. The NK DIGITS- grip device was used to evaluate the forces generated by individual finger forces in all of the studies. The results indicate that the first and second fingers contribute the most to overall grip strength. Practical applications of these results are discussed in this paper.