Grip Span and Aging: Does the Grip Strength-Span Relationship Change with Age?

Abstract

Grip strength has been well studied in conjunction with product and individual characteristics including age. Design characteristics for products targeted to older adults frequently include larger or chunkier handles or grips. To understand motivation for these design choices, this investigation assessed grip strength at 5 grip spans of 31 participants in two age groups. The downward shift in the grip strength/span curve can be attributed to the decrease in strength with age associated with loss of type II muscle fibers in all muscles (which was more pronounced for male participants). However, there was no shift in the grip strength/span curve peak to a wider grip. Thus the affinity for chunkier handles (increased volume, contact surface area, and grip span) and grip designs for older adults is not motivated by a shift in peak grip strength over the tested grip span.