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Pinch Strength
Availability
Please visit this website for more information about the instrument: Pinch Strength
 
Additional Devices are required for this instrument. Please Consult the Links below for additional information on the devices
Classification
Supplemental: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD), Neuromuscular Diseases (NMD) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).
 
Note: Motor Strength Testing is Core: investigators must choose either Manual Muscle Testing (MMT) or a Quantitative Dynamometer measure as a part of any study.
The individual tests for muscle strength testing are listed as Supplemental.
 
Exploratory: Congenital Muscular Dystrophy (CMD)
Short Description of Instrument
Pinch Strength is a measurement of strength generated by the thumb and forefinger, of one pound. The amount of muscle strength loss can be determined.
 
To create more quantitative assessments of hand muscle strength, dynamometers have been developed. These dynamometer measurements are more sensitive to change compared to manual muscle testing and render outcome on a continuous scale.
Comments/Special Instructions
There are three positions which a patient is instructed to pinch as hard as possible:
    1. 2 point pinch: A meter is placed between the tip of the thumb and index finger
    2. 3 point pinch: A meter is placed between the pulp of the thumb, pulp of index finger, and middle fingers 
    3. Key pinch or lateral pinch: A meter is placed between the radial side of index finger and thumb 
Scoring and Psychometric Properties
Scoring: Test should be performed at least three times. Record the result of each trial in the nearest pound or kilogram. Difference in scores should be within 6.6 lbs or 3 kg. If not, test should be repeated. Results are compared to published age and sex-specific norms.
 
Psychometric Properties: Low producibility of 2 point pinch strongly suggests that it should not be used as a clinical indicator for monitoring change in patients with primary osteoarthritis of the hand (Ziv, 2008).
Rationale/Justification
Strengths: The pinch test can provide insight about an individual's overall health and ability to effectively perform certain tasks.
References
Key References:
Andres PL, Hedlund W, Finison L, Conlon T, Felmus M, Munsat TL. Quantitative motor assessment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Neurology. 1986 Jul;36(7):937-41.
 
Muscle Study Group. Randomized pilot trial of betaINF1a (Avonex) in patients with inclusion body myositis. Neurology. 2001 Nov 13;57(9):1566-70.
 
Additional References:
Larson CC, Ye Z. Development of an updated normative data table for hand grip and pinch strength: A pilot study. Comput Biol Med. 2017 Jul 1;86:40-46.
 
McQuiddy VA, Scheerer CR, Lavalley R, McGrath T, Lin L. Normative Values for Grip and Pinch Strength for 6- to 19-Year-Olds. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2015 Sep;96(9):1627-33.
 
Personius KE, Pandya S, King WM, Tawil R, McDermott MP. Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy natural history study: standardization of testing procedures and reliability of measurements. The FSH DY Group. Phys Ther. 1994 Mar;74(3):253-63.
 
Ziv E, Patish H, Dvir Z. Grip and pinch strength in healthy subjects and patients with primary osteoarthritis of the hand: a reproducibility study. Open Orthop J. 2008 May 9;2:86-90.
 
Document last updated October 2024