Document

Author
Mohammad Babamiri, Elahe Oveisi, Younes Mohammadi, Rashid Heidarimoghadam & Fakhradin Ghasem
Abstract
Today, various jobs containing manual tasks can have adverse impacts on people's abilities. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the impact of different elbow angles of manual load handling on hand dexterity. In this cross-sectional study, 34 males manually carried loads in three different positions (i.e., a 90-degree elbow angle, a 180-degree elbow angle, and one hand) for 5 minutes. Then, the O'Connor test was performed after each effort. The results showed that among various methods of manual load handling, load handling with a 90-degree elbow angle caused a significant increase in the number of errors and duration of the O'Connor test (P≤0.001). Overall, manually carrying the load with one hand was the best alternative among the three methods. The findings revealed that a 90-degree elbow angle causes the most remarkable drop in people's performance. Therefore, attention should be paid to how to carry loads and choose the correct method of cargo transportation, and danger signs should be taught to the employees in related jobs.