ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to find the standard value of hand width, of grip strength and of pinch strength by age, sex, and by left hand and right hand and also to find how the general characteristics influences grip strength and pinch strength.Martin Vigorimeter (List No. 17-27-01) was used for measuring grip strength, and the pinch gauge (0∼30 lbs) of B&L engineering for measuring pinch strength.The subjects of this study are the children at the age of three to seven years, who attending the babies' play room, kindergarten and the primary school in Seoul and the Kyungki province area. They all were normally developed without any significant neurology problem. wo hundred girls and two hundred boys were partifipated in this study. They were divided into ten subgroups according to the age of six month interval. Each group consisted of forty children of twenty boys and twenty girls.Analysis of data presents the technical statistics upon the hand width of right and left hand and the grip strength and pinch strength according to the age and sex. Multiple regression analysis using mixed liner model was operated in order to find how the general characteristics (of the age, sex, and side of hand) influence hand width, grip strength, and pinch strength individually. Also, we calculated the correlation among hand width, grip strength and pinch strength under thecondition of controlling general characteristics; and to find correlation between the right hand and the left hand of the age and sex, we carried out paired t-test and came to the conclusion as follows:1.　Hand width is significantly increased with the increase of age (p<0.01). The increase of hand width according to age, boy is wider than that of girl significantly (p<0.01), and the right hand is wider than that of the left hand significantly (p<0.01).2.　Grip strength is significantly increased as the age and hand width increased (p<0.01). The increase of grip strength according to the age, boy is stronger than that of girl significantly (p<0.01), and grip strength of the right hand is stronger than that of the left hand(p<0.01).3.　Three-jaw pinch strength is increased as the age, hand width and grip strength are increased(p<0.01). But there is no significant difference of three-jaw pinch strength according to sex and the side of hand(p>0.05).4.　Tip pinch strength is significantly increased as the age and grip strength are increased(p<0.05). The increase of tip pinch strength according to the age, boy is stronger than that of girl significantly (p<0.05), but there is no significant difference between the right hand and the left hand(p>0.05).5.　Lateral pinch strength is significantly increased as the age and grip strength are increased(p<0.01). But the increase of lateral pinch strength, there is no significant difference according to the hand width, sex and the side of hand(p>0.05).6.　The test of correlation among hand width, grip strength and pinch strength showed the correlation between grip strength and pinch strength was stronger than the correlation between hand width and pinch strength(0.37.　The test of hand width according to the age and sex, and the difference between the right hand and the left hand in grip strength and pinch strength showed that there was significant difference against all the test of hand width, of grip strength, and of pinch strength in the age group from seven years and six months to seven years and eleven months than the age groupunder six years, specially in girls group(p<0.05).