Effect of vibrating steering on grip strength in heavy vehicle drivers

The grip strength in both hands of thirty-two heavy vehicle drivers and twenty-two nondrivers ranging from 30 to 60 years of age was investigated. Blood pressure, heart rate and other physical parameters were also investigated. The subjects were drawn at random from the employees of the North Bengal State Transport Corporation and Civil Aviation. Heavy vehicle drivers perform their duties 8 hr per day with an average speed of 60-70 km hour for 4-5 hr of continuous driving at a time. The only significant difference in the physical characteristics of heavy vehicle drivers and nondrivers was their body weight (p less than 0.05). The right and left wrist power of heavy vehicle drivers was respectively 6% and 3% higher than that of nondrivers. The mean blood pressure, heart rate and wrist width were found to be almost same in heavy vehicle drivers and nondrivers. From our studies we concluded that vibrating steering probably has no influence on the grip strength and that performing 8 hr of driving daily does not affect the blood pressure and heart rate in heavy vehicle drivers. However, further studies are needed to determine the influence of vibrating steering on grip strength.