The effect of non-pathological neck pain on hand grip strength in healthcare practitioners across three different head positions: a cross-sectional study design.
Salem F Alatawi
PMID 39239404WHAT IT FOUND
Among 46 healthcare workers, neck pain did not lower grip strength, and head position did not change grip strength overall.
Grip was highest in neutral and lowest in extension, but the differences were not clear.
Key findings
01Medical staff with non-pathological neck pain did not have significantly different dominant grip strength from healthy staff across the tested head positions.
02Grip strength was highest in neutral and lowest in extension on both hands, but dominant and non-dominant grip did not differ significantly within each head position.
03The paper reported a significant difference between dominant grip in neutral and non-dominant grip in extension.
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 included only 46 healthcare staff from three hospitals in Saudi Arabia, so it cannot be assumed to apply to patients or other populations. It was cross-sectional, so it can show associations at one time but cannot prove that neck pain does not cause grip changes. The authors did not compare grip strength by age, gender, weight, BMI, or neck pain severity. The authors did not test neck rotation or side bending, only neutral, flexion, and extension. The paper reported a significant pairwise difference but also concluded head position did not significantly affect grip overall, which makes the result less clear.
Declared interests
The author reported no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication, and declared no potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the reported difference between dominant neutral and non-dominant extension grip as proof that head position changes grip strength in patients. The main neck-pain comparison was not statistically significant, the study had only 46 healthcare staff, and it did not test neck rotation or side bending.