The effect of exposure to cold on dexterity and temperature of the skin and hands.

Objectives . This study aimed to determine the impact of low temperature (-1 °C, +5 °C) on manual dexterity and hand skin temperature after 1 h of exposure when using two types of protective gloves. Methods . Ten male participants wore double gloves or single gloves, when spending 1 h in a climatic chamber at -1, +5 or +20 °C. Before and after the cold exposure, measurements of mean weighted body skin temperature, hand skin temperature, the Purdue Pegboard Test and hand grip strength were performed. Results . There were statistically significant differences in the values of mean weighted body skin temperature and left and right hand skin temperature between the study variants. Conclusion . No effect of cold exposure (-1 °C, +5 °C) on manual dexterity was observed, but there was an effect of -1 °C temperature change on weighted mean skin temperature and hand skin temperature during 1 h of exposure. The decrease in both right and left hand skin temperature after cold exposure was the largest for -1 °C while using single gloves, and differed significantly from the other variants.