The Ergonomic Design of Bent-Handled Wok for Female Cooks’ Wok Flipping Task

Abstract

Conventional straight-handled woks and the ergonomic bent-handled woks under different wok sizes were evaluated using the psychophysical approach. Twelve female subjects were tested using 15 different woks in a random order. The independent variables were the wok handle angle (with two angles of 25˚, 10˚ for traditional wok, and three angles of -5˚, -20˚ and -35˚ for bent-handled wok) and the wok size (with three diameters of 33 cm, 36 cm and 39 cm). The criterion measures included maximum acceptable weight of flipping (MAWF), wrist angle and subjective rating. The results showed both the handle angle and wok size significantly affected the maximum acceptable weight of flipping, wrist angle and subjective rating. The bent-handled wok is superior to the straight-handled wok, and the size-weight illusion effect is significant. In general, a small wok (33 cm diameter) with an ergonomic bent handle (-35˚) is ideal for females to decrease the risk of upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders when performing the flipping task.