Measurement of hand grip strength: A cross-sectional study of two dynamometry devices.
Alison Lupton-Smith, Kyla Fourie, Anele Mazinyo and 3 others
PMID 36262213WHAT IT FOUND
The inexpensive Camry dynamometer matched the gold-standard Jamar in hospitalized patients, with excellent agreement.
It is a valid alternative for resource-limited settings. However, measurements differed more in left-handed participants, so caution is needed when assessing this group.
Key findings
01The Camry dynamometer showed excellent agreement and strong correlation with the Jamar dynamometer in hospitalized adults.
02Hand dominance significantly affected the agreement between the two devices, with greater differences in left-handed participants.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study was conducted only in hospitalized patients, so the findings cannot be generalized to healthy or community-dwelling populations. Only seven participants were left-handed, making the finding about reduced agreement in this group preliminary and requiring confirmation in larger samples. The study did not test the devices in patients with upper limb pathology, which is common in rehabilitation settings. The Jamar is an analogue device requiring visual estimation between marks, while the Camry is digital, which may have influenced the small systematic difference in readings.
Declared interests
The authors declare no competing interests. The study was conducted at Groote Schuur Hospital with ethical approval from the University of Cape Town.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the Camry and Jamar are interchangeable for left-handed patients. The agreement between devices was significantly poorer in this group, with a mean difference of 5.5 kg compared to 1.3 kg for right-handed participants. This could lead to misclassification of grip strength if switching devices mid-assessment.