Characteristic Of Elderly People Hand And Its Effect To Walking Stick Handle:A Case Study In Malacca

• Main Author: Mohd Fauzi, Afifah
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Q Science (General); QP Physiology
• Online Access: http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/21459/1/Characteristic%20Of%20Elderly%20People%20Hand%20And%20Its%20Effect%20To%20Walking%20Stick%20Handle%20A%20Case%20Study%20In%20Malacca.pdf; http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/21459/2/Characteristic%20Of%20Elderly%20People%20Hand%20And%20Its%20Effect%20To%20Walking%20Stick%20Handle%20A%20Case%20Study%20In%20Malacca.pdf; http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/21459/; http://libraryopac.utem.edu.my/webopac20/Record/0000107836

Hand is best known as an ultimate operative instrument, the hand helps in assisting human to grip,pinch,hold and others.According to the statistic in year 2015,the population of elderly people in Malaysia aged 60 years old and above was 2.8 million and by year 2035,the population projection of elderly people will up to 5.6 million.The projection figures give a preliminary picture on the demand for the usage of walking aids among elderly people.This study is to investigate the hand characteristics and biomechanics of elderly people and its effect to different design of handle of walking stick and propose handle of walking stick considering ergonomics aspects of elderly Malaysian.The sample of elderly people was taken from Rumah Seri Kenangan,Cheng, Malacca.They comprises of female and male of Malay, Chinese and Indian races,their age were sixty and above. Physical characteristics of hand such as:contact area, hand length,hand width,hand size,inside grip diameter and grip strength,grip force,was taken.Other than measuring physical dimension of hand,survey was also captures their opinion regarding the comfortability of using three types of handles walking stick design which were mostly used. Three types of walking stick handle were chosen based on market demand.There were positive correlations on hand length and hand size,hand size and inside grip diameter, hand size and grip strength.It has negative correlation for both genders for grip strength and age.Among the three handle of walking stick,the one that contribute to distributed force was handle Swan neck type followed by T-type handle and Crook type handle.On distribution of force among 5 location identified,the location on ulnar nerve area was the highest force.This was also confirmed by results of questionnaires and interview.For recommendation,the design of handle stick that give better comfort those that provide equally distributed force to hand.The size of handle should follow the hand size of elderly people.According to the result,the handle should have three different sizes.Padded handle stick would provide not only better grip but also comfort ability.