Effects of dominance, body mass index and age on grip and pinch strength

Measurement of grip and pinch strength is an important component in hand evaluation. It assesses the patient's initial limitations and provides a quick reassessment of patient's progress throughout the treatment. This investigation was conducted to examine the effects of hand dominance, body mass index (BMI) and age on grip strength (GS) and pinch strength (PS) tasks. Subjects were 365 apparently healthy young male adults (19-33 years). No correlation was found between the BMI hand strength measures. Grip and pinch strength were measured instrumentally. The rule "dominant hand (DH) is approximately 10% stronger than the nondominant hand (NDH)" was found to be valid for left handed persons only (11.2%), otherwise these measures should be considered equivalent in both hands in clinical practice.