Hand grip strength as a clinical biomarker for ME/CFS, 2018, Nacul et al

For @adambeyoncelowe and @Trish

Sit on an ordinary chair. Hold the meter in your dominant hand, but resting your hand and the meter on your leg, in a comfortable position.

Count (in seconds):

one, two, three, GRIP, two, three RELEASE.

Note the reading.

Pause and repeat twice more. Not a long wait between the three readings.

Straight from a Biobank Test on Tuesday.

 

The wait between is 30 seconds. This is pretty much how I did it, although I wasn't sure how much of a right-angle I was able to get just by looking down. I don't trust my own coordination!

ETA: I had my hand at my side, so I didn't rest it on my leg.

 

Isn't that "cheating"? I.e. I expect a better result than with the grip off the leg (because you will build up pressure against the leg). In my case I held the grip at my side - no place to put pressure on than the grip itself.

 

@adambeyoncelowe wanted to know what position the arm should be in.

For the Biobank tests, everything is done the same way and in the same order by whichever nurse is conducting the appointment.

Presumably as some participants may be bed bound, perhaps this was the preferred option of how to conduct the hand grip test?

 

Dr Betty Scott (who saw around 370 patients in the Finchley, North London outbreak between 1964 and 1966) later worked with Ramsay studying endemic cases.

Ramsay writes about her clinical observation in his book 'Postviral Fatigue Syndrome: The saga of the Royal Free disease' on p.29, "she pointed out that, if both sides were affected, the muscle weakness was always greater in the muscles which the patient used most in daily activities; thus, in a right handed person, the muscles of the left arm and hand were stronger than those on the right."

I've always been very strongly right hand dominant, but now have real difficulty opening lids with my right hand and do better with my left.

 

I've just been watching this video on Youtube that some of you may be interested in. The guy in the video is a physiotherapist and strength coach, and his channel is aimed at weightlifters and other athletes.

He talks about grip strength, and mentions that it's normal for grip strength to decline when you're sick (with anything!), and says that reduced grip strength is an excellent early warning system for when you're over-extending yourself and need to dial back.

He also demonstrates how to test your grip strength with an ordinary bathroom scale(!) instead of a hand grip dynamometer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttVHGlApt3w

 

Interesting to revisit this thread. My grip strength feels as though it has deteriorated significantly in recent weeks...