TY - JOUR
T1 - The measurement of strength in children
T2 - Is the peak value truly maximal?
AU - Ozaki, Hayao
AU - Abe, Takashi
AU - Dankel, Scott J.
AU - Loenneke, Jeremy P.
AU - Natsume, Toshiharu
AU - Deng, Pengyu
AU - Naito, Hisashi
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This work was supported, in part, by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant #JP18K17831 (HO).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors.
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - It is unclear whether the measurement of maximum muscle strength in younger children can be performed accurately due to factors such as motivation and maturity (i.e., the ability to receive instruction). If there is a large change in a ratio between muscular strength and size from the youngest to the oldest, then this might provide some indication that the youngest may not have been able to voluntarily activate their muscles for reasons mentioned previously. The purpose of this study was to observe the ratio between handgrip strength (HGS) and forearm muscle thickness (MT) across differing ages in younger children. A total of 1133 preschool children (559 boys and 574 girls) between the ages of 4.5 and 6.5 years had MT and HGS measurements and calculated the ratio of HGS/MT (kg/cm). Linear regression was used to assess the impact of age and sex on the dependent variables of MT, HGS, and the HGS/MT ratio. The HGS/MT ratio increases moderately from age 4.5 to 6.5 in both boys and girls. However, the difference in this ratio was small between the age ranges in this sample. Our results indicate children as young as 4.5 may be accurately measured with the handgrip strength test.
AB - It is unclear whether the measurement of maximum muscle strength in younger children can be performed accurately due to factors such as motivation and maturity (i.e., the ability to receive instruction). If there is a large change in a ratio between muscular strength and size from the youngest to the oldest, then this might provide some indication that the youngest may not have been able to voluntarily activate their muscles for reasons mentioned previously. The purpose of this study was to observe the ratio between handgrip strength (HGS) and forearm muscle thickness (MT) across differing ages in younger children. A total of 1133 preschool children (559 boys and 574 girls) between the ages of 4.5 and 6.5 years had MT and HGS measurements and calculated the ratio of HGS/MT (kg/cm). Linear regression was used to assess the impact of age and sex on the dependent variables of MT, HGS, and the HGS/MT ratio. The HGS/MT ratio increases moderately from age 4.5 to 6.5 in both boys and girls. However, the difference in this ratio was small between the age ranges in this sample. Our results indicate children as young as 4.5 may be accurately measured with the handgrip strength test.
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U2 - 10.3390/children8010009
DO - 10.3390/children8010009
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85112398161
SN - 2227-9067
VL - 8
JO - Children
JF - Children
IS - 1
M1 - 9
ER -