Aim. To investigate whether there is an optimal grip span for determining the maximum handgrip strength in preschool children and if that grip span is influenced by gender, age, or children's hand size.
Methods. A total of 292 preschool children aged 3-5 years (59.2% boys) performed the handgrip strength test using an analog dynamometer (TKK model 5001, Grip-A, Takei, Tokyo, Japan) with different grip spans (4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0 cm) in a randomized order with both hands. The hand size was measured from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger with the hand opened widely. Thereafter, we also determined the reliability of the optimal grip span in an another comparable group of children (n = 56, 32 boys) aged 3-5 years who performed the handgrip strength at the obtained optimal grip span on two occasions with a 3 hours difference.
Results. The repeated measures analyses showed that there is an optimal grip span to determine the maximum handgrip strength in preschool children. The grip span at which children obtained the maximum handgrip strength was 4.0 cm. This result applied to boys and girls, all age groups (3, 4 and 5 years) and hand sizes (12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 cm). Paired t-test showed no significant differences between test and retest (mean difference: 0.20 kg, 95% confidence interval: -0.10 to 0.51, P = 0.193). Intra class coefficient was 0.919.
Conclusions. This study shows that there is an optimal grip span (i.e. 4.0 cm) in preschool children aged 3-5 years, and that it is not influenced by gender, age, or children's hand size. We also observed that the optimal grip span was reliable in preschool children. The present study findings add valuable information to better standardize the procedure and increase the reliability.
Corresponding author. gsanchezdelgado@ugr.es
