Jar-opening challenges. Part 1: An apparatus for assessing hand and finger torques and forces in a jar-opening activity

A simulated jar apparatus was developed to record hand kinetics and torque contribution of a digit during jar-opening activities. The design of the apparatus, namely a jar body and a lid, is similar to a commercial jam jar that is regularly seen in daily living. One six-axis force-torque transducer and a torque cell were mounted inside the jar lid to detect the external force exerted from the digit and fixed on to the jar body to record the overall torque generated by the hand and wrist respectively. The applications of the apparatus were used to test the twisting torque of the hand and to measure the applied forces of the digit, which are both important factors in opening a jar. The contribution of each digit relative to the total twisting torque of the hand could be obtained via the apparatus. The intraclass correlation coefficient of the repeated measurements of the obtained forces and moments for different counterweights was approximately 0.96-1.00, which indicates that the reliability of the measured components of the apparatus is high. The high coefficient of determination (r20.99) indicates high accuracy of prediction of the measured values with respect to the expected loads. The validation outcomes support the design rationale and actual body part of the simulated jar. In addition, understanding the contribution of a single digit in opening a jar was also achieved via the apparatus and model. © IMechE 2009.