ABSTRACT

Objective : The purpose of this study was to provide reference ranges of grip strength, lifting and carrying, and to examine the relationships among grip strength, lifting and carrying of the mentally retarded adults.Methods : Grip strength, lifting and carrying of fifty-five adults with MR were evaluated with Transportable Evaluation Systems Technology(TEST) of BTE corp. for eight months. Data were analyzed by SPSS(version 13.0).Results : The results were as follows; First, grip strength, lifting and carrying were higher in the male group than the female group with MR in the same age groups. The differences were statistically significant(p<0.05). The differences of those among the three age groups(10~19, 20~29, 30~39) in the same gender were not significant. second, left-grip strength and right-grip strength are correlated with lifting(respectively r=0.38, r=0.43) and lifting is correlated with carrying(r=0.38) in the male group with MR. Third, left-grip strength and right-grip strength are correlated with lifting(respectively r=0.49, r=0.57) and lifting is correlated with carrying(r=0.66) in the female group with MR.Conclusion : Based on the results of this study, we need to accurately evaluate physical ability of the mentally retarded adults and provide necessary vocational rehabilitation services to allocate suitable duties to them.