Gender Dominance Grip Strengths

Gender Dominance Grip Strength

Introduction

Grip strength can be used in determining the effectiveness of the different

treatment strategies or procedures. Grip strength test provide and objective index of the

strength of the upper extremities. (Singapore Med J 2002 Vol. 43) Studies have

attempted to determine the differences in strength of left or right hand preference as well

as dominant or non-dominant preference. Crosby et. Al investigated normative values of

significant differences between dominant and non dominant hands. In their study, hand

grip strengths of the dominant hand were six percent higher than non dominant hand.

An experiment will be conducted to determine grip strength. The more upper

body strength
a person possess the greater grip strength will result. Manual labor also

play an important part in the grip strength determination. Males usually work in more

exertive field which require greater strength than women. It is predicted that the hand

grip strength will be greater with the dominant hand rather than the non-dominant hand.

However, it is further predicted that men will have a greater grip strength in compared to

women.

Material and Methods

A Physiology class of 26 students; 18 females ages 20-41 and 8 males ages 20-42

participated in the study using a dynamometer at eight o’clock in the morning. The

participants took turns and squeezed the instrument at a 90 degree angle alternating hands

two times per hand. Participants had to insure that no part of the arm was touching the

table for added support. The highest number from each hand was recorded on an excel

worksheet for each participant. Averages and Standard deviations were also calculated

and recorded.

Results

Results from the study were measured in several ways. They were measured by

hand dominance, gender, and also non dominant hand dominance being greater than

overall non-dominance. There are several graphs to follow.

Discussion

Measurement of grip strength is an important component for hand

rehabilitation. It assesses the patient’s initial limitations and provides a quick

reassessment of progress throughout treatment.

The power grip is the result of forced flexion of the fingers with voluntary force

that the subjects are able to perform under normal conditions. Grip strength is affected by

many conditions and some studies had been designed to identify these factors. Muscle

strength is one of these factors. The synergistic action of flexor and extensor muscles and

other major muscle groups. Other factors that play a role in strength is a persons health,

alertness, age and cooperation of participants.

The results were recorded as kilograms.
The averages for the participants in the

study showed that the non-dominant hand was 29.85kg, which was less than the results

for the dominant hand with 32.27kg. The data was broken down even further when

determining the difference between genders. The females within the group average for

the dominant hand was recorded as 26.61kg and the non-dominant hand results was

22.11kg. Male results differed in that they had a greater strength for the non-dominant

hand 43.75kg verses the dominant hand only measuring 41.38kg. In comparison with the

gender difference the female participants had a closer range of grip strength than the male

counterparts. The study also yielded results that the non dominant hand preference only

accounted for 5.8 percent of the overall hand dominance of the group.

The reasons for these results could be because men have bigger muscles than

women. The women that had higher grip strength probably work more highly demanding

jobs than the ones with very low grip strength results. The muscular build of a person

allow them to exert more strength while squeezing the dynamometer firing more
action

potentials than that of the untrained arm. Another possibility could be that age played a

role in the differences. The older person may have less strength due to bone density loss.

There can be many speculations on why this study yielded these results but the most

likely reason is that you use the dominant hand more giving you more strength from the

result of building muscle. It is also likely that the men had greater results because they

have more muscles and use their strength in their arms more. It is known that women are

stronger lower extremities probably to aid in child birth, but men carry more strength in

their upper extremities.

Conclusion

It is concluded that the dominant hand under all circumstances of the study

resulted in the highest grip strength. The most prevalent reason for this is that the

dominant hand is exerted more within both genders. More use of the dominant hand for

writing, using different tools, etc. Age did not play a factor in the determination of the

results in fact the eldest participant of the study group had the greatest grip strength.

More actions are performed with the dominant hand and than the non dominant.

However, most of the women participants had much lower strength than the men because

of the size of the males’ brute force.