ABSTRACT | INTRODUCTION: Hand grip strength is an indicator to predict the health status of individuals in clinical practice. Age, gender, anthropometric characteristics, and health status influence grip strength performance of the hand through their influence on the musculoskeletal system. The dearth of data exists in the literature to identify the hand grip strength performance with carrying angle in females with different body mass indices. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to compare and correlate the hand grip strength performance and carrying angle in young females with different body mass indices. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 64 young women aged between 19 and 24 years participated in this cross-sectional observational study. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups based on their body mass index: the underweight group (n = 22), the normal weight group (n = 22), and the overweight/obese group (n = 20). Evaluations of hand grip strength and carrying angle were conducted on both the dominant and non-dominant sides. A Pearson correlation coefficient analysis was performed to determine the relationship between carrying angle and hand grip strength. ANOVA was utilized to compare hand grip strength and carrying angle among the three groups of young women. RESULT: The average age of females participating in the study varied from 20.78 to 21.56 years across all three groups. In correlation analysis, hand grip performance and carrying angle showed a negative correlation in both the underweight (dominant side r = -0.15, non-dominant side r = -0.35) and the overweight/obese group (dominant side r = -0.16, non-dominant side r = -0.14). No correlation was found between hand grip strength and carrying angle for females in the normal weight category. ANOVA statistics indicated that there were no significant differences in handgrip performance and carrying angle among females of varying body weight classifications. CONCLUSION: Though the carrying angle in underweight and overweight/obese females was negatively correlated with hand grip performance, the measures varied insignificantly among females with different body mass categories.
Shetty et al. (Tue,) studied this question.