Relationships between grip strength, dexterity, and fine hand use are attenuated by age in children 3 to 13 years-of-age.
Richard W Bohannon, Ying-Chih Wang, Catherine Noonan
PMID 31037014WHAT IT FOUND
In children 3 to 13, grip strength and fine hand use scores are higher at older ages.
After age is accounted for, tests are not strongly related, so one test cannot replace another.
Key findings
01In 132 of 144 children, the raw grip strength and fine hand use scores moved together: the weakest reported relationship was 0.524 between left grip strength and stringing blocks, and the strongest was 0.978 between left and right grip strength.
02Age was related to the scores, with reported relationships from 0.586 for stringing blocks to 0.881 for right grip strength.
03Once age was accounted for, only half of the reported relationships remained significant, and they were negligible to moderate except left-right grip strength (0.913) and left-right peg test (0.663).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it compared different children of different ages at one time rather than following the same children over time. The sample was a convenience sample of apparently healthy children, so it may not apply to children with hand or upper limb conditions. The sample size was limited, and the authors said it was not large enough to examine relationships within subgroups such as 3 year-old boys. Twelve of 144 children were excluded because they were missing data on one or more measures. The study tested many correlations, and the authors used a strict significance threshold of p<0.001. The paper describes relationships between tests, not treatment effects or clinical outcomes.
Declared interests
The data came from the NIH Toolbox Validation Project, funded by the National Institutes of Health. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that one hand test can replace another, or that grip strength alone shows fine motor ability. The strong raw correlations fall away after age is accounted for, and the study is cross-sectional, so it does not show developmental change.