Does hand grip strength correlate to buttoning speed in adult women?

Abstract

Background: Hand usage is substantial in activities of daily living. Hand grip strength is the measure of the maximum voluntary force of the hand. Hand grip strength reflects on overall muscular strength, nutritional quality, muscle mass, and walking performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between grip strength and the speed of buttoning down a shirt. Methods: Female subjects (n = 24)) from a Midwestern institution volunteered to participate in this study (age 23.63 + 5.6 yrs; ht. 171.22 + 7.1 cm; 73.21 + 23.1 kg). All participants were healthy with no injuries of the upper extremities. Due to COVID-19, wearing a face mask and social distancing was required. All of the equipment including shirts was sanitized before each use. Participants were provided a button shirt by the same manufacturer and identical with 5 buttons. All sized shirts were fitted for each participant according to their shirt size. All subjects placed both hands on the collar with opposite fingers touching the first button before given the start command. The research team digitally timed the participants in seconds on how fast the participant could button down the shirt. Of three trials, the best time was recorded. Participants were then assessed 1 maximal hand grip strength via a Camry hand grip-dynamometer from each hand before the data was analyzed. Results: The data was analyzed using SPSS version 26 (New York, NY). Pearson correlations looked at both right hand grip and left hand grip strength in comparison to the best attempt trial of buttoning down a shirt. Pearson correlation from right hand grip strength to best time (r = - 0.214; p = 0.274) did not show a significant relationship. Pearson correlation from left hand grip strength to best time (r = - 0.028 ; p = 0.888) was not significant. Discussion: This study investigated the relationship between grip strength and the speed of buttoning down a shirt. No significance was found between grip strength and the fastest trial of buttoning down a shirt. This indicates grip strength may not be the primary or sole intervention when attempting to improve efficiency of fine motor function in activities of daily living such as buttoning skills. Conflict of interest statement: My co-authors and I acknowledge that we have no conflict of interest of relevance to the submission of this abstract.