2009 Volume 60 Issue 2 Pages 111-121
Elderly women have difficulty in putting on clothing. We analyzed the motion of 71 healthy elderly women aged 65 to 99 years putting on three types of jackets (Jacket A was of normal ease, Jacket B had more ease in the back, and Jacket C had a diamond-shaped gusset in the underarm area) by first recording their motion with eight digital video cameras and then conducting three-dimensional motion analysis. The length of time it took to prepare to put the second wrist through the armhole was significantly longer when putting on Jacket A compared to putting on Jacket B. By analyzing the video images and three-dimensional locus of the upper limb, we found that some elderly subjects could not put their second wrist through the armhole in the first attempt because the wrist did not reach the armhole of Jacket A; however, when putting on Jacket B, they could pull the armhole forward and put their wrist through the armhole smoothly. A diamond-shaped gusset alone may make it easier for elderly women to slip their arm through the sleeve.
