BIOMECHANICS TRENDS IN GRIP AND PINCH STRENGTH IN TWO AGE GROUPS OF CHINESE

Abstract

Hands are one of the most complex and useful systems of the human body with grip and pinch strength being the most important biomechanics factor to assess the hand functions. Many diseases including malfunction of nervous systems and osteoarthritis may lead to weakness or abnormality of hand grip and pinch strength. The measurement of grip and pinch strength could be used to assess the degree of injury degree, treatment effect and recovery, thus making it necessary to build a biomechanics normative database of grip and pinch strength for use by researchers (such as doctors and sport researchers) from different fields (i.e. professional injury assessment, ergonomics and product design). The database is expected to provide detailed features of grip and pinch strength of the Chinese people.