title: Key pinch in healthy adults: normative values.
abstract: Intra-individual and inter-individual variations of key pinch strength were analysed in a standardised manner for healthy Caucasian adults (female n = 403; male n = 366) aged between 20 and 95 years. The mean strength was less in women (right 6.6 kg; left 6.1 kg) than in men (right 10.4 kg; left 9.7 kg). Independently of hand dominance or gender, the right side was about 7% stronger. Constitutional variables such as forearm length, forearm circumference and hand size showed a positive correlation with key pinch strength. Since the correlation between age and key pinch was similar in both genders, showing a continuous decrease of strength from the fifth decade of life on, key pinch seems independent from gender-specific hormonal changes. In conclusion, we recommend to side adjust measured values and to include information regarding constitutional characteristics for intra-individual comparison.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Klinikum Grosshadern, Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich, Munich, Germany. christian.guenther@med.uni-muenchen.de
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Günther
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bürger
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rickert
authors.forename: C U
authors.initials: CU
authors.lastname: Schulz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D018737:Hand Strength; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D044465:White People