Investigating the effect of sport and using anti-vibration gloves on the grip strength of workers exposed to the hand-arm vibration

Introduction: Long-term exposure to hand-arm vibration causes musculoskeletal disorders mainly in hand and shoulder. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of sport and using anti-vibration gloves on the grip strength of workers exposed to the hand-arm vibration. Material and Methods: In this descriptive-interventionist study, 41workers working in one of the Isfahan metal industries were studied. Data were collected by the demographic questionnaire, hand-arm vibration acceleration measurement was performed based on the ISO 5349 standard and grip strength was measured using the dynamometer device model Jamar. The investigations were performed on 3 groups including sporting moves, using of anti-vibration gloves and combination of sporting move and using of gloves. Twenty workers were selected as control group without exposure to any hand-arm vibration. Data were analyzed by the SPSS-21 software. Results: Workers’ grip strength difference was significant before and after vibration (PValue<0.001) and grip strength had significant and inverse relation with vibration (PValue<0.001, R= -0.411). Grip strength was higher in the group that used anti-vibration gloves accompanied with the sporting moves compared to before the intervention and significant relation was observed (PValue<0.001). Conclusion: Vibration affects decreasing in grip strength and grip strength itself can be used as a screening measure for those workers exposed to the risk and diseases related to the vibration. Regular sporting moves and using anti-vibration gloves are effective on improvement of workers’ grip strength and preventing vibration-induced complications.