Abstract:

An experiment was designed using muscle electromyography to determine if an optimum cylindrical handle size exists. The experiment had two phases. One phase was concerned with an experimental task of gripping a cylindrical handle and performing a simple task routine to evaluate the optimum handle size. The other phase was concerned with a fatigue test utilizing the same cylindrical handles. The experimental variables wore: hand size, weight resistance, and cylindrical handle diameter. Findings indicate that generally the 20 in. diameter handle showed lowest EMG activity. The 1-5 in. diameter handle was found to be the optimum handle size based on the ratio between force applied and the EMG activity measured. The 1.5 in. diameter handle was found to provide the maximum number of completed task cycles before the onset of fatigue.