Korean Job Discussion Forums

[katydid]

Found this on the MSN page...kind of interesting. Might be good to use the fork after all....They should poll us on here...what causes sore hands more...using chopsticks or posting often on Dave's?


Chopstick Use May Lead to Aching Hands
Stress of Repetitive Chopstick Use Can Cause Osteoarthritis of the Hand

By Jennifer Warner


Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD
on Friday, October 24, 2003
WebMD Medical News

Never quite mastered the art of using chopsticks?Don't fret; new research suggests that you may actually be doing your hands a favor by sticking with a fork.

The study shows people who use chopsticks on a daily basis are more likely to develop hand osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis that is often due to excessive use of joints.

Researchers say using chopsticks places stress on particular joints in the first, second, and third fingers, which may increase the risk of osteoarthritis in these joints.

The results of the study were presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Orlando, Fla.

Chopstick Use Stresses Hands

Researchers studied more than 2,500 Chinese adults with an average age of 60 and asked them whether they were right-handed or left-handed and which hand they preferred while eating with chopsticks or performing other grip-related activities.

The participants also underwent hand X-rays to look for joint damage due to osteoarthritis.

The study showed that osteoarthritis was more common in the joints involved in chopstick use compared with non-chopstick joints.

In addition, participants who were ambidextrous (had no hand preference in general) but had a preferred hand for chopstick use were more likely to have osteoarthritis in that preferred hand. This suggests that the osteoarthritis was due to chopstick use rather than other activities involving the hands.

The study also showed that 26% of the participants had evidence of osteoarthritis in their thumb, and chopstick use accounted for 20% of the risk of developing this in men and 37% in women.

"While the increase in risk associated with chopstick use is small, this accounts for a large proportion of the osteoarthritis in these joint groups," says researcher David Hunter, MD, assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine, in a news release.

Researchers say these findings are in line with previous studies that have shown occupational groups exposed to repetitive use of small hand joints also have higher than normal rates of hand osteoarthritis in those joints.

[Bulsajo]

Chopsticks? Man, I never mastered the spoon. If it can't be eaten with fingers or slurpped from a cup or a bowl then it's not fit for my consumption. I expect at this point my dinner-party invitations from y'all will be suddenly and drastically reduced...

[katydid]

I'll have you over for cookies....

But here is some food for thought. I'd imagine that Korean chopsticks, being thinner, would place more stress on a person's hands than the thicker Chinese ones. Hmmm...

[HardyandTiny]

I bet you hold your chopsticks in a different way than the natives.
check it out.

[Bulsajo]

[Homer]

Its all in the grip katy...not in chopstick use...

[Gord]

Do you honestly believe everything the fork industry tells you to believe?

[katydid]

LOL I love it...the fork industry's propaganda scheme.