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Nail clipper design for elderly population
| Content Provider | Scilit |
|---|---|
| Author | Ahram, Tareq Z. Karwowski, Waldemar |
| Copyright Year | 2012 |
| Description | Book Name: Advances in Physical Ergonomics and Safety |
| Abstract | The elder people generally have the problems of physical-function degeneration. These problems mostly are failing to successfully use the tools or equipments that are originally designed for healthy and young people. This research focused on evaluating the problems and requirements with respect to nail clipper usage by elder people. This research tries to find out the problems of elder people in cutting nails by questionnaire survey. Based on the ergonomics design principals, we redesigned the traditional nail clipper for satisfying the requirements of the elder people. A new handgrip and a footrest were incorporated with this newly-designed nail clipper. An experiment was conducted to compare the newly-designed nail clipper with the traditional one. The task completion time and total number of cutting were collected from 24 elder people during the experiment. These participants also filled an questionnaire after each trial to evaluate the usability of the tested nail clipper. The experimental results indicated that the newly-designed nail clipper was better than the traditional one in the rating of holding-comfort and perceived effort. However, no significant differences in the task completion time and total number of cutting were found between these two nail clippers. In summary, this newly-designed nail clipper has similar performance to the traditional one, but it has less perceived effort and more comfortable feeling when cutting the nails. Keywords: Aging, nail clipper, usability, hand tool, ergonomic design Nail is a part of the skin, and as individuals grow older, their skin conditions also change. Some major signs of aging include hardening, dryness, and thickening of nails (Tsai, 2002). Therefore, as opposed to young people, it is more difficult for the elderly to clip their nails. The pinch distance may influence the nail clipping pinch strength. Imrhan and Rahman (1995) indicated that the pinch distance has a significant effect on pinch strength when the distance within 2-9.2 cm. In addition, the study also found that, if the pinch distance is more than 9.2 cm, some individuals may fail to complete the pinching motion because their fingers are not long enough. This finding is consistent with the suggestion for the largest hand-tool handle to be the width of 8.8 cm, as proposed by Dababneh, et al. (2004). In 1977, Greenderg and Chaffin (1997) found that when pinch distance is 2.3-3.5 in, most individuals can perform pinching motion of the largest strength. Further, the material of the handle is also associated with the comfort level for pinching a nail clipper. Therefore, how to redesign the handle of a nail clipper is the main issue of this study. |
| Related Links | https://content.taylorfrancis.com/books/download?dac=C2010-0-49790-1&isbn=9780429105104&doi=10.1201/b12323-50&format=pdf |
| Ending Page | 416 |
| Page Count | 7 |
| Starting Page | 410 |
| DOI | 10.1201/b12323-50 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited |
| Publisher Date | 2012-07-10 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Book Name: Advances in Physical Ergonomics and Safety Agricultural Engineering Elderly Young People Ergonomics Design Hand Tool Redesigned Nail Clipper Cutting Nails |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Chapter |
