Anthropometric Classification of Human Hand Shapes in Korean Population

Hand tools designed without the anthropometric perspective lead to lower performance and safety. This study suggests a statistical hand shape classification with Korean anthropometric data. A total of 321 anthropometric data were used for this study. To investigate hand types, 27 anthropometric hand variables normalized by the stature of each participant and factor analysis and cluster analysis were conducted. As a result, three major factors were deduced: factors of hand breadth, palm length, and finger length. Additionally, four hand types were determined: (a) a spacious hand with short fingers, (b) a hand with short palm with above average fingers, (c) a long palm and fingers, and (d) a narrow hand and short fingers. In the male population, the spacious hand with short fingers type was dominant while the narrow hand and short fingers type was dominant in the female population. These results are expected to be preliminarily utilized in design for the Korean population.