Assessment of the Correlation between hand grip strength test and seated medicine ball throw test at 45° angle among physiotherapy students: An Observational Study

Abstract

Seated Medicine Ball Throw (SMBT)test at 45 degrees throw angle is used to measure the Upper body power. Measurement of grip strength, is an important component in body strength evaluation and can provide us with a quick assessment of an individual’s upper limb strength. Objective To assess the relationship between handgrip strength and upper body power among physiotherapy students via Digital Handgrip Dynamometer and Seated Medicine Ball throw test respectively. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at Shalamar School of Allied Health Sciences, Lahore. This study recruited 45 participants of both gender, age between 18 to 24 years. Peak grip strength of both hands was taken using digital handheld dynamometer in kg. Seated Medicine Ball Throw, also called the medicine ball chest pass was performed by the participants using 2 kg medicine ball. SPSS was used to calculate the correlation of all variables. When the ball is released at 45 degrees, this study found a high association between handgrip strength and Seated Medicine Ball throw distance. SMBT has a mean of 149.7837.14, Right Handgrip Strength has a mean of 21.26kg5.3, and Left Handgrip Strength has a mean of 20.53kg4.69. Results: Grip strength left (r=.0.899) and right (r=.871) were found to have a significant link with Seated Medicine Ball throw (SMBT) performance in Pearson product-moment analysis. The dependent variable, SMBT, and the independent variables, HGS and Height, had a strong positive linear association (r=0.908). Conclusion: A higher Handgrip strength leads to a longer Throw distance, implying that a stronger Handgrip signifies a stronger Upper body.