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Why We Use Grip Strength To Help In Measuring Your Health

Why We Use Grip Strength To Help In Measuring Your Health

Grip strength, also known as hand strength, can be an indicator for nervous system and muscle health in the hands, wrists and forearms. The measurement is often included in longitudinal studies because it's an indicator of the overall well-being of an adult subject.

How Grip Strength Is Measured

If you visit a Chiropractor for any condition related to weakness, your doctor may conduct a grip strength test. Grip strength is usually measured using a hand-held dynamometer. The person squeezes the dynamometer with all of their strength using one hand at a time.

A 2010 article published in the journal of the American Geriatric Society found that healthy minimal squeeze measurements associated with better mobility in older adults were approximately 72.6 pounds for men of normal weight and 44 pounds for women. 1


Why Does Grip Strength Matter?


Your grip strength is controlled mainly from the signals starting in the brain, traveling down through your lower neck nerves, through your arm and wrist, to your hand. These signals tell your hand to squeeze the dynamometer. Any interference to these signals either in the neck, arm or wrist may cause weakness in grip strength during the test.

 Grip strength also grows weaker as we age, which eventually begins to affect our day-to-day. 

Factors as simple as things like; opening jars, carrying groceries, and turning doorknobs are made more or less difficult depending on the strength of the hands.

Grip strength measurements are easy to calculate, but they are sensitive enough to detect even the smallest of changes in hand strength, which makes them especially useful when tracking the progress of neurological improvement during a person going through Chiropractic care.

 It's also a reliable indicator of a greater risk of heart attack or stroke. In an international study, researchers found that an 11-pound decrease in grip strength is correlated to a 17 percent increased risk of cardiovascular death, a 7 percent increased risk of heart attack and a 9 percent increased risk of stroke. 2

Poorer grip strength has been associated with greater mortality from any cause among older adults in several different
studies and is often used as a proxy for overall muscle strength. 3

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  Dr Joseph Gitto, BA, DC, FDN, CFMP, CWC

Advanced Chiropractic & Nutrition

Feel Better – Live Better – Perform Better

331 Tilton Road, Northfield, NJ 08225

609-484-9300

www.drgitto.com



1.Sallinen J, Stenholm S, Rantanen T, Heliövaara M, Sainio P, Koskinen S. Hand-grip strength cut points to screen older persons at risk for mobility limitation. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2010;58(9):1721-6. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.03035.x
2.Celis-morales CA, Welsh P, Lyall DM, et al. Associations of grip strength with cardiovascular, respiratory, and cancer outcomes and all cause mortality: prospective cohort study of half a million UK Biobank participants. BMJ. 018;361:k1651.doi:10.1136/bmj.k1651
3.Gale CR, Martyn CN, Cooper C, Sayer AA. Grip strength, body composition, and mortality. Int J Epidemiol. 2007;36(1):228-35. doi:10.1093/ije/dyl224





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