title: Assessment of handgrip strength in preschool children aged 3 to 5 years.
abstract: We investigated whether there is an optimal grip span for determining the maximum handgrip strength in preschool children and if it is influenced by gender, age, or hand size. A total of 292 preschool children (3-5 years; 59.2% boys) carried out the handgrip strength test with different grip spans (4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0 cm). The hand size was also measured. We also determined the reliability of the optimal grip span in another group of children (n = 56, 57% boys) who did the test twice, with a 3-hour difference between tests. The results showed that 4.0 cm is the optimal grip span to determine the maximum handgrip strength in preschool children. This result applied to both genders, all age groups, and hand sizes. Paired t-tests showed no significant differences between test and retest. These findings may guide clinicians and researchers in selecting the optimal grip span when measuring handgrip strength in preschool children.Level IV.
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group. Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Granada, Granada, Spain gsanchezdelgado@ugr.es.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Delgado
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group. Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cadenas-Sanchez
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group. Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mora-Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group. Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Martinez-Tellez
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group. Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chillón
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences and Nutrition at NOVUM, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Löf
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group. Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Granada, Granada, Spain Department of Biosciences and Nutrition at NOVUM, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden.
authors.forename: F B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.affiliation: PROFITH 'PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity' Research Group. Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Granada, Granada, Spain Department of Biosciences and Nutrition at NOVUM, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Ruiz
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D018737:Hand Strength; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
keywords: Child; dynamometry; muscle strength; physical fitness; reliability