Evaluation of bilateral force deficit in shoulder flexion using a handheld dynamometer in healthy subjects.
Kensuke Shimada, Tomo Onishi, Yoshiko Ogawa and 2 others
PMID 28878458WHAT IT FOUND
A hand-grip dynamometer tracked shoulder flexion strength similarly to an isometric dynamometer in six healthy men, but gave higher torque.
In 21 healthy subjects, it detected lower total strength when both arms lifted together than the sum of each arm alone.
Key findings
01In six healthy men, shoulder flexion torque measured with a hand-grip dynamometer was significantly higher than with an isometric dynamometer (59.04 vs 46.77 N·m).
02The hand-grip dynamometer and isometric dynamometer shoulder torque were correlated, with a coefficient of 0.775 (95% CI 0.364 to 0.934).
03Bilateral force deficit in shoulder flexion was detected in 18 of 21 subjects, with mean bilateral index 0.884.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The participants were healthy volunteers, not patients with shoulder injury or functional limitation. Experiment 1 included only six men, so the validity and reproducibility results are limited to a small sample. Hand-grip dynamometer torque was significantly higher than isometric dynamometer torque, and the authors suggest the pulling method may have caused eccentric contraction. The hand-grip dynamometer could not detect forces below 5.0 kg in the standard belt position, and some measurements required moving the belt to the elbow. Bilateral force deficit was not detected in all subjects; 14.7% did not show it. Electromyography results were recorded only from subjects who showed bilateral force deficit, so they cannot describe the whole group.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the hand-grip dynamometer torque as interchangeable with isometric dynamometer torque. The hand-grip values were significantly higher, and the study tested healthy volunteers rather than patients.