Senior Projects

Background and objectives: Hand grip and pincer grasp are very important in daily activity so strengthening hand is very important. The main purpose of our study is to determine the effect of segmental training combined with strength training on hand grip strength and pinch grip strength within 5 weeks. Methods: A cohort study of 92 subjects were randomly chosen from department of physical therapy from Beirut Arab University according to their level of activity (sedentary-active-highly active), level of smoking (non smoker- occasional- heavy smokers), height, weight, BMI, measurements of length of forearm, length of palm (both sides). Training was performed 2 times per week. The hand grip strength and pinch grip strength were measured before training, after two weeks of training and after four weeks of training and at week five, using dynamometer to measure hand grip strength and pinch gauge to measure strength of hand grip for both right and left sides. Results: statistical analysis showed that status of smoking status, gender, body mass index(BMI), and length of forearm, weight had effect on both hand grip strength and pinch grip strength (p<0.05) . In addition the results showed no correlations significance between strength of hand grip and pinch grip with the amount of caffeine intake, number of sleeping hour and types of activity (p>0.05). Also, the type of training doesn’t has significant effect on both hand grip strength (p>0.05) and pinch grip strength (p>0.05). Conclusions: There is no significance that segmental body vibration has effect on hand grip strength and pinch grip strength.