A Preliminary Study into the Human Perception of Hand Pain for Activities Common in Daily Life

• Main Authors: Kamat, Seri Rahayu, Yoxall, Alaster, Carre, Matt, Rowson, Jennifer
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/5111/
• Institution: Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

The hand is one of the essential parts of the body for carrying out Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). Individuals use their hands and fingers in everyday activities either in the workplace or at home. Hand-intensive tasks require diverse and sometimes extreme levels of exertion, depending on the action, movement or manipulation involved. Hands are also a tool of communication, expression, and emotion so, hand pain or deformity can cause embarrassment and inhibition, triggering feelings of poor self-esteem or a lower self-image. The authors believe that better understanding of how pain occurs during ADLs will aid in the design of consumer products. Good design should consider factors such as simplicity, easiness to learn, efficiency and pleasure of use. Products should be suitable for general application for all user categories including those with disabilities. This kind of approach has been termed 'Universal' or 'Inclusive' design. Hence, improved understanding of hand pain is important for the study of ADLs and particular attention should be drawn to the type, cause, frequency and degree of pain. Our primary objective was to examine the level and frequency of pain in the hands and fingers during common ADLs (e.g. cleaning) and the associated hand actions. The actions investigated were gripping, pinching, twisting, manipulating of digits and lifting. Hence a survey totalling 626 participants was collected using an online survey, with respondents ranging between 22 to 58 years old. There was no exclusion criterion for the subjects, with the participants being selected from the author's volunteer network. 616 subjects fully completed the survey with a response rate of 98.9% with 209 (34%) male and 407 (66%) female. The response rate for those experiencing hand problems was approximately 68% (206) for female and 32% (186) for male participants. Of all the actions, gripping produced the highest frequency of pain, but twisting produced the highest degree of pain (based on an average pain rating), followed by pinching. Gripping and lifting actions showed the same degree of average pain rating, whilst manipulating digits produced the highest number of responses, although the average pain rating was the lowest.