A Review on Grip and Pinch Strength Tests

Abstract

Grip strength measurement data has many applications in health assessment and ergonomic strategies. However, this issue has been neglected by wellness researchers and activists in Iran. Therefore, this study was designed to review the factors affecting grip strength, the protocol and tools necessary for grip strength tests, the validity and reliability of grip strength tests, as well as the databases and forward-looking equations of grip strength. This is a review study. The required information was obtained by searching the International Information Banks of Science Direct, Web of Science, Scopus, Springer, ProQuest, Google Scholar and PubMed (between 1980to2022). Search keywords were "hand strength, grip strength, pinch strength, normative data, dynamometer, regression models, and anthropometric measurements". One hindered and forty relevant articles were found in total 45 of them were reviewed and finally used in this study. In this study, effective demographic and anthropometric factors, measurement instruments, test protocols, validity and reliability of measurement, principles of creating databases of grip strength, and also forward-looking models of these databases were reviewed and results were presented. The measurement of grip strength is performed with the purpose of investigating upper limb disorders, designing hand tools, designing workstations, and determination of the improvement level of different treatments. Demographic characteristics and anthropometric factors, particularly the upper anthropometric dimensions, affected the grip strength. Researchers, ergonomists, therapists, and physicians can benefit from the results of this study