Effect of Metacarpal Gloves on Pinch and Grip Strength

Hand Injuries are common in industrial settings. In 2014 alone, there were 137,440 total cases of hand injuries in the United States that required days away from work. Hand injuries can be classified into six general categories: lacerations, fractures and dislocations, soft tissue injuries and amputations, infections, burns and high pressure injuries. Some of these injuries can be prevented with proper personal protective equipment. In recent times, metacarpal gloves are widely used to protect the workers against hand/metacarpal injuries in various industries including mining. The benefits of wearing metacarpal gloves for protection are unquestionable, but little is known about how these gloves can affect grip strength, pinch strength and the overall work performance. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine if metacarpal gloves have an impact on user’s gripping and pinching strengths. Five metacarpal gloves were evaluated using a sample size of 10 participants. Type of glove had a significant effect on the gripping strength. Use of glove, on an average, reduced the gripping strength by 20%. Between the gloves, the gripping strength varied in the range of 3% to 10%. The pinching strength was un-affected by the use of glove