Investigation of hand forces applied to a pruning tool - pilot study.

Introduction: Winter pruning is a cultivation practice necessary for maintaining the balance between the vegetative and the productive activity of plants and requires many working days using hand scissors. This operation involves the subjects carrying out a series of gestures that are repeated with considerable frequency, which are all musculo-skeletal disorders risk factors (MSDs) for the hand-wrist area.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the forces applied to pruning tools.