Articles
Effect of self-selected handgrip position on maximal handgrip strength

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Abstract

Boadella JM, Kuijer PP, Sluiter JK, Frings-Dresen MH. Effect of self-selected handgrip position on maximal handgrip strength.

Objective

To assess whether participants were able to select the handgrip position on a Jamar hand dynamometer with which the maximal handgrip strength could be delivered, while sitting and while standing.

Design

A criterion standard comparison study.

Setting

A university campus in the Netherlands.

Participants

Fifty-six healthy subjects (30 men, 26 women; mean age, 30y; range, 19–60y) voluntarily participated.

Interventions

Not applicable.

Main outcome measures

Maximal handgrip strength for the self-selected and non-self-selected handgrip position of the hand dynamometer (positions 2 or 3), while sitting and while standing.

Results

The self-selected handgrip position resulted in the highest mean maximal grip strength compared with the non-self-selected handgrip strength, both for sitting (mean difference, 2.3kg; P≤.001) and for standing (mean difference, 2.1kg; P≤.001).

Conclusions

Both in sitting and in standing, participants were able to self-select the handgrip position on the hand dynamometer with which the maximal handgrip strength could be delivered. Therefore, it may be useful to introduce self-selection of the handgrip position in protocols to assess the maximal handgrip strength.

Section snippets

Participants

Thirty men and 26 women volunteered to participate in the study. The mean age ± standard deviation (SD) was 30±11.5 years (range, 19–60y). The average body height was 1.76±0.06m (range, 1.59–1.97m). The volunteers were students and workers of a (para)-medical college. None of the subjects reported any musculoskeletal problems. After providing the volunteers with information about the study, they were asked to sign a written informed consent document, in accordance with the Declaration of

Results

All participants completed the tests successfully. The self-selected handgrip position resulted in the highest grip strength compared with the non-self-selected handgrip position, both for sitting and for standing (table 1). For sitting and standing, the mean difference was 2.3kg (P≤.001) and 2.1kg (P≤.001), respectively. While sitting, 26 (46%) participants preferred handgrip position 2 and 30 (54%) participants preferred handgrip position 3. While standing, 30 (54%) participants preferred

Discussion

Our study showed that participants choose the optimal handgrip position to deliver maximal handgrip strength while sitting and while standing. Therefore, it is possible to introduce self-selection of the handgrip position in a test protocol to measure maximal handgrip strength. However, 1 remark has to be made concerning the sample population. Participants studied or worked at a (para)-medical college. Although they had no experience with the hand dynamometer, because of their high education

Conclusions

Both in sitting and in standing, participants were able to self-select the handgrip position on the Jamar hand dynamometer with which the maximal handgrip strength could be delivered. Hand length, finger length, and hand width were not good estimates of the preferred handgrip position to deliver maximal strength. Therefore, it may be useful to introduce self-selection of the handgrip position in protocols to assess the maximal hand grip strength. These findings encourage further research on

Acknowledgment

We thank Linda Faber for her help in data collection.

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    No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the authors(s) or upon any organization with which the author(s) is/are associated.

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