Catherine Wrzesien

BIOL 204L
Design a Lab
Investigation of whether or not hand size affects grip strength
INTRODUCTION
A muscle contraction is achieved through the shortening of many functional units
of a muscle fiber (Herzog, 2015, 1-5). Certain perceptions, like sensed verbal
instruction, from the outside environment tell the motor neurons to relay the shorten
message in a specific manner that produces a particular type of contraction known as
grip. Grip can be performed in two different ways; power, holding objects between
thumb and palm, and precision, holding objects between thumb and one or more fingers
(Haywood and Getchell, 2009, p 170-171). The strength of the power grip is varied
through temporal summation, frequency of action potentials sent to muscle, and spatial
summation, number of muscle cells that receive the action potential. If both summations
are produced in a maximum amount the contraction type known as grip will be at
maximum strength.
The maximum grip strength previously mentioned specifically refers to the
amount of force placed upon an object by an individuals hand (Sirajudeen, 2012, p 5862). Grip strength is often affected by physical activity levels, age, gender, muscle size
and hand size (Ruiz-Ruiz, 2002, 897-900). Hand size can refer to a few different
measurementswidth, span and length (Sirajudeen, 2012, p 58-62). Dr. Jane BearLehman, who works for the Colombia University Occupational Therapy Program, and
her colleagues constructed an experiment that explored the relationship between grip
strength, pinch strength and hand size in 3-5 year old children. They write that it is
important for medical professionals as well as toy producers to understand this
relationship in order to provide proper medical attention and toys to children. This study
showed that although age and gender do effect grip strength, hand size has the most
significant effect. (Bear-Lehman, 2010, p 340-346).
In this experiment the hand width and length of college-aged students was
measured and statistically connected to power grip strength. We hypothesized that
hand size does indeed have an effect on the force of grip strength applied. More
specifically, we predicted that a larger hand will be able to apply a stronger force of grip
strength.

METHODS
Subjects for this study were obtained by randomly choosing 13 college students.
Each of the students dominate hand length and width were measured with a centimeter
ruler. The hand length was determined by placing the ruler on the subjects hand, in a

long ways orientationmeasuring from the base of the wrist to the tip of the longest
finger. The width of the hand was determined by placing the ruler on the subjects hand,
in a sideways orientation, with the thumb pressed against the handmeasuring from
the outside edge of the pinky finger to the outside edge of the thumb.
Labpro was set up with the laptop program and a hand dynamometer. Each
subject was instructed to, at the proper time, squeeze the hand dynamometer with the
dominate hand as hard as they could for five seconds at a time. The force of grip
strength was recorded by estimating the average force peak shown on the Labpro
program. The grip strength measuring process was repeated three times for each
subject, with a 30 second break between each trial. After all data was collected, a twotailed correlation test was conducted to statistically analyze the significance of the hand
size and grip strength relationship.
RESULTS
The average hand length of all 13 students was 17.6 and the average hand width
was 9.7; furthermore, each individual hand length and hand width are shown in Table 1.
The average grip strength was 210.1the individual data for each corresponding grip
strength is also shown in Table 1. Each individual average force of grip strength was
graphically compared to the corresponding hand length (Figure 1) and the
corresponding hand width (Figure 2).
The statistical analysis shows a positive correlation between hand size and grip
strength. The correlation coefficient of hand length and force of grip strength is 0.569;
the corresponding p-value is 0.042. The correlation coefficient of hand width and force
of grip strength is 0.667; the corresponding p-value is 0.012.

Table 1Each subject with the hand length (cm), hand width (cm), and all three trials
and the average of each subjects force of grip strength.
Hand
Length
(cm)
Subject 1
Subject 2
Subject 3
Subject 4
Subject 5
Subject 6
Subject 7
Subject 8
Subject 9
Subject 10
Subject 11
Subject 12
Subject 13

Hand Width
(cm)

18.5
15.5
17.3
17.9
17.5
17
17.5
15.5
17.3
18
20.2
18.3
18.1

10.5
8.5
9.7
9.2
10.4
10.4
9.2
8.6
8
9.6
11.5
10.2
10.6

1
204.4
163.3
177.5
170.8
325.4
242.5
246.3
135.4
205
273.1
300.6
288.4
425.5

Grip Strength
2
3
192.5
192.5
130.5
160.3
178.8
173
170.1
170.8
296.1
335.8
229.5
190.5
273.1
193.5
120.1
129.2
180.5
157.6
294.5
283
276.2
279.2
267
260.1
404.1
353

Average
196.5
151.4
176.4
170.3
319.1
220.8
237.6
128.2
181
283.5
285.3
271.8
394.2

450
400
350
300

Average Force of Grip Strength 250

200
150
100
50
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Hand Length (cm)

Figure 1Hand length (cm) graphically compared to force of grip strength with the
trendline

450
400
350
300

Average Force of Grip Strength 250

200
150
100
50

10

11

12

Hand Width (cm)

Figure 2Hand width (cm) graphically compared to force of grip strength with the
trendline

DISCUSSION
This study found that hand size does effect grip strength. More specifically it
shows a positive correlation between hand size and grip strength. The correlation is
more positive with hand width and grip strengthwhen hand width increases so does
force of grip strength. The correlation is less positive with hand length and grip strength
the force of grip strength does increase as hand length increases but not as positively
as it does with hand width. In order to statistically analyze the data a two-tailed t-test
was performed, with this test it important to note that if the resulting p-value is less than
0.05 the date is significant. The p-value of the hand length/force of grip strength
relationship of 0.042 shows that there is a significant relationship between hand length
and force of grip strength. The hand width/grip strength relationship p-value of 0.012
shows that there is also a significant relationship between hand width and force of grip
strength.
Despite the positive results of this study it does have plausible inaccuracies. One
of those inaccuracies being that the individuals were participating in other experiments
that each involved arm, wrist and/or hand strength; therefore, the individuals may have
been temporarily weakened from other experiments. It is also plausible that certain
athletic individuals may have been fatigued due to any intense physical activity
performed prior to the experiment. The experiment could be improved upon by including
other attributing factors such as forearm muscle strength.
Other factors may influence an individuals grip strength. Robert Radwin,
professor of biomedical engineering at University of Wisconsin, and his colleagues

conducted a study to discover if, on average, an individuals grip strength would become
altered if the hand/wrist was at a different angle and if force was applied against the
grip. The study concluded that with increased angle the individuals grip strength
became maximized. In addition to increased angle, Radwin and his colleagues found
that gender had a significant effect on grip strength; the mens force of grip strength was
almost double that of the women. It was also determined that, when dealing with
handles, an individuals grip strength changes with the size of the handle (Edgren, 2004,
p 244-251).

LITERATURE CITED
Bear-Lehman, Jane. An exploratory look at hand strength and hand size among
preschoolers. Journal of Hand Therapy 15.4 (October-December 2002): p 340
346. ScienceDirect. Web. 5 Nov 2015.
Edgren, Cally S. Grip Force Vectors for Varying Handle Diameters and Hand Sizes.
Human Factors 46.2 (Summer 2004): p 244-251. ProQuest. Web. 5 Nov 2015.
Herzog W, Powers K, Johnston K, and Duvall M. A new paradigm for muscle
contraction. Front Physiol. 6:174 (2015): p 1-8. EBSCOhost. Web. 5 Nov 2015.
Haywood, Kathleen M. and Getchell, Nancy. Lifespan Motor Development. Human
Kinetics, 2009. Print.
Ruiz-Ruiz, Johnathon. Hand Size Influences Optimal Grip Span in Women but not in
Men. The Journal of Hand Surgery. 27A (2002): p 897-901. EBSCOhost. Web. 5
Nov 2015.
Sirahudeen, Mohamed S. Correlation between Grip Strength and Physical Factors in
Men. International Journal of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. 1:2 (October
2012): p 58-63. EBSCOhost. Web. 5 Nov 2015.