The Effect of Gender and Arm Anatomical Position on the Hand Grip Strength and Fatigue Resistance during Sustained Maximal Handgrip Effort

BACKGROUND: Handgrip or Grip strength (GS) is a common method used to evaluate muscle strength and affected by different factors, including age, gender, and arm’s positions. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the effect of both the gender and arm’s positions on the handgrip strength and the fatigue resistance (FR), which is the time needed for the handgrip strength to drop to 75% (FR(75)), 50% (FR(50)), and 25% (FR(25)) of its maximum strength during sustained maximal handgrip effort. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this experimental study, 59 male and 41 female participants were asked to grip forcefully on a dynamometer for the longest period. GS and FR(75), FR(50), and FR(25) values were recorded for 7 different arm positions. Factorial ANOVA was used to find the main effect of gender and position and the interaction between them. Sidak and Tukey’s HSD tests were used to find the gender and arm position effects, respectively. RESULTS: The results showed a significant effect for gender and arm position on GS and FR and a significant interaction effect for GS that was significantly higher in males than females for all positions. The gender difference in FR depends on arm’s positions and the level at which the FR was measured. GS was higher when arm adduction with 90 ͦ forward at the elbow as compared to arm abduction with 180 ͦ at the shoulder and 90 ͦ at the elbow. CONCLUSION: The results confirmed the significant effect of the gender and arm’s positions on the maximal handgrip strength and fatigue resistance during sustained maximal handgrip effort.