Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2018
College/Unit
School of Medicine
Department/Program/Center
Occupational Therapy
Abstract
Background: Pinch strength is indicative of later functional hand use following injury to hand. However, we believe clinicians (and more specifically CHTs) currently do not use a consistent measurement of pinch grip, despite availability of a “gold standard” of current (2015) ASHT standards for measuring pinch grip.
Methods: This cross-sectional survey (N = 175, 35% response) was designed to determine whether CHTs adhere to the standardized testing position for palmar pinch strength as recommended by the ASHT.
Results: Results determined that only 5.7% (n = 10) of the CHTs surveyed complete the entire ASHT standardized testing position. An additional 18.3% (n = 32) of the CHTs reported positioning the upper arm, forearm, and wrist per the guidelines, but did not hold under the gauge as recommended. The low percentage of adherence to this position contrasts with the majority of the CHTs (98.3%) reporting using standardized testing position for grip strength for at least 75% of attempts.
Conclusion: It is possible that the pinch guidelines are not as widespread in the literature, and therefore, clinicians are not able to reference the recommended standardized positions.
Digital Commons Citation
Woods, SueAnn R. and Lilly, Christa, "Pinch Testing Positions Among Certified Hand Therapists: A Cross-Sectional Survey" (2018). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 1236.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/1236
Source Citation
Woods, S. R., & Lilly, C. (2018). Pinch Testing Positions Among Certified Hand Therapists: A Cross-Sectional Survey. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.15453/2168-6408.1438
Comments
Copyright transfer agreements are not obtained by The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (OJOT). Reprint permission for this Applied Research should be obtained from the corresponding author(s). Click here to view our open access statement regarding user rights and distribution of this Applied Research. DOI: 10.15453/2168-6408.1438.
This article received support from the WVU Libraries' Open Access Author Fund.