A Biomechanical Analysis Of Behavior In The Kitchen Following An Acute Upper Extremity Injury

Abstract

A brace that simulates a short arm cast was applied to fifteen participants who were administered a battery of standardized manual dexterity tests. These same participants were then asked to perform simulated kitchen tasks (pouring from a pitcher and lid removal from a container). Timed performance and postures were evaluated across both sets of tasks, with and without the brace. Results showed that there was a significant overall effect of the intervention, an increase in time needed to complete the standardized dexterity tests (p < 0.05). For the kitchen tasks, removing the lid from a container was also significantly slower W(15)=3, p < 0.05. Pouring water from the pitcher was also significantly slower depending on the initial positioning of the pitcher at [alpha] = 0.05 for two of the three conditions. There were also some significant changes in the way people moved their bodies to complete tasks after the intervention.