Handgrip strength and falls in community-dwelling Egyptian seniors

Abstract

Purpose: To establish a relationship between falls and handgrip strength (GS) in communitydwelling senior citizens in Egypt. Subjects: Crosssectional study enrolling 132 subjects, all ≥60 years old. Materials and Methods: History of falls in the past year and their number as well as GS measurement in both hands using Baseline? pneumatic squeeze handheld dynamometer. Results: There is a highly significant difference between the GS of fallers and non-fallers in both hands (P = 0.000). There is a highly significant negative correlation between the mean GS and the number of falls (P = 0.003). There is a highly significant positive correlation between GS of the right hand with the number of falls (R = 0.226, P = 0.009), as for the correlation with the left GS it was a weaker positive correlation (R = 0.209, P = 0.16). Conclusion: Seniors with history of falls have a lower GS in both dominant and nondominant hands and it is directly related to the number of falls. GS is decreased in senior fallers even if within the normal range.