Handgrip Endurance in Healthy Elderly People

Abstract

In general, there are many items for measuring physical function. Among them, handgrip strength is easy to use because it can be easily measured in a short time (3 to 5 seconds). There are few reports that evaluate handgrip endurance, we reported it. The subjects were 16 people (78.2±3.7 years old) living in Hiroshima City. Using a grip strength meter T.K.K.5401 (Takei Kiki Co., Ltd.), the maximum force in the dominant handgrip strength was measured while holding for 20 seconds, and the average value per second was calculated from the obtained results. As a comparison group, 11 students (21.5±0.5 years old, hereafter: young group) enrolled also performed similar measurements. Result: The maximum grip strength was significantly lower in the elderly group than in the young group. The change in grip strength for 20 seconds in each group was significantly lower than the maximum value in the young group after 16 seconds had passed since the start of the grip exercise. On the other hand, in the elderly group, no decrease in grip strength was observed within 20 seconds after the start of the grip exercise (interaction effect p<0.01). Comparing the transition of the elapsed time from the maximum value, the young group showed a significant decrease after 12 seconds from the start, but the elderly group did not show a significant decrease. Conclusion: The elderly group did not show a significant decrease in handgrip endurance for 20 seconds. When momentary exertion of power is required in daily life, if the purpose cannot be achieved, other means and ingenuity are required to achieve the purpose. In the future, I would like to find out the relevance and risk with evaluation other items, whether it will be one index in physical fitness tests.