Abstract
Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Fibromyalgia (FM) are chronic illnesses with pain as the common component. Hand grip function is limited in both RA and FM patients, the assessment of which might help in important decision making. Methods and findings: We analyzed the hand grip strength in RA and FM patients with simple inexpensive hand dynamometer and compared it with age and sex matched healthy controls. Our study had 16 RA and 14 FM patients. The mean hand grip force in dominant right hand was 87.8 ± 22.7 kilograms in fibromyalgia while in RA it was 60.3 ± 21.0 kilograms. Non-dominant hand grip was 72.5 ± 25.7 kilograms in fibromyalgia while in RA it was 52.2 ± 29.3 kilograms. On comparison of the hand grip strength between RA and FM patients, we found that RA patients had a significantly lower dominant and non -dominant hand grip strength than FM patients (p=0.002 and p=0.055 respectively). When compared with age and sex matched healthy controls both dominant and non-dominant hand grip was significantly lower in RA group (p<0.001) while non-dominant hand grip strength in FM was significantly lower than controls (p<0.001). Conclusion: Rheumatoid arthritis patients have poor handgrip than Fibromyalgia and both have poor hand grip than age matched controls.
Highlights
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory systemic disorder of autoimmune etiology which causes progressive joint inflammation, destruction and limitation of joint function if left untreated
The study included a total of 30 study subjects, out of which 16 had Rheumatoid arthritis diagnosed as per 2010 ACR classification criteria; 14 had Fibromyalgia diagnosed according to ACR revised diagnostic criteria 2016
On comparison of the hand grip strength between RA and FM patients (Table 1), we found that RA patients had a significantly lower hand grip in both dominant and non-dominant hands than FM patients (p=0.002 and p=0.055 respectively)
Summary
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory systemic disorder of autoimmune etiology which causes progressive joint inflammation, destruction and limitation of joint function if left untreated. Hand and wrist joint involvement is noticed in 80 to 90% of RA patients [1] leading to hand deformities and limitation of the hand function. Apart from hand pain, deformities and loss of range of joint movements, the decreased muscle strength or fatigue plays an important role in the limitation of joint function. Methods and findings: We analyzed the hand grip strength in RA and FM patients with simple inexpensive hand dynamometer and compared it with age and sex matched healthy controls. When compared with age and sex matched healthy controls both dominant and non-dominant hand grip was significantly lower in RA group (p
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