An Association of Dominant Hand Grip Strength with Some Anthropometric Variables in Indian Collegiate Population

The present study deals with the correlations of dominant hand grip strength and 12 anthropometric variables, namely, height, weight, BMI, upper arm length, forearm length, total arm length, hand breadth, hand length, upper arm circumference, forearm circumference, biceps skinfold and triceps skinfold in randomly selected 303 unrelated, normal, healthy students (151 males and 152 females) aged 18-25 years of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, India. The findings of the present study indicate a strong association of dominant right hand grip strength with all the anthropometric variables, except biceps skinfold in male students and with height (r = 0.200), weight (r = 0.275), BMI (p = 0.217), total arm length (p = 0.218) and upper arm circumference (r = 0.199) in female students. Statistically significant positive correlations were also found between dominant left hand grip strength and height (r = 0.275), weight (p = 0.537), BMI (p = 0.472), hand breadth (p = 0.464), upper arm circumference (r = 0.570), forearm circumference (p = 0.464) and triceps skinfold (p = 0.343) only in male students, but no such association was found between grip strength of left hand dominant female students with any of the twelve anthropometric variables. It may be concluded that hand dominance, especially of the right hand, has some close association with the anthropometric variables related to upper extremities.