Ergonomic factors influencing handwriting performance

Objectives: Handwriting is one of the first things children are taught at school and need to perform in an efficient manner throughout life. Various studies have indicated that handwriting skills are related to many different variables including ergonomic factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between children with good and poor handwriting on ergonomic factors that underlie handwriting (e.g. body and paper positioning, pencil-grip and pressure) and to examine the relationship between the handwriting legibility and speed and these ergonomic factors. Study Design: The study included 209 students in Grades 2 and 3 in Israel. The students were identified as good (N = 116) and as poor handwriters (N = 103) by their teachers. The Hebrew Handwriting Evaluation (HHE) was used to collect data on handwriting quality and speed as well as on ergonomic factors. A Chi square procedure was used to compare the differences between the handwriting groups. Discriminant analysis determined the percent of correct discrimination of subjects with poor or good handwriting based on the ergonomic factors. Finally, Spearman correlation coefficients were employed between the ergonomic variables and speed and quality of handwriting. Results: The results indicated that children with poor handwriting had inferior pencil, paper and body positioning, stabilization of paper and consistency of pressure, compared to children with good handwriting. Conclusions: The implications of the results in general, and specifically for clinical practice are discussed. Finally, further research related to this topic is suggested.