Diurnal Variation in Grip Strength and Hand Dexterity in Healthy Adults

Abstract

Handgrip and dexterity are integral to hand function and both are used to assess functional status in clinical practice. Many studies have examined the daily fluctuation in handgrip strength with differing conclusions, but none to date have looked at variation in dexterity. This study recruited 30 healthy volunteers and measured their handgrip strength and dexterity using the Nine Hole Peg Test at three-hourly intervals between 9.00am and 4.00pm, over one day. There were statistically significant differences in hand dexterity over the day but not in handgrip strength. Although a possible learning effect from practising a task-specific dexterity assessment such as the Nine Hole Peg Test may explain these findings, the difference was inconsistent and differed between the dominant and non-dominant hand. This study highlights the need for parallel forms of testing hand function to help control for any learning effects and also for therapists to be as constant as possible in the time of day when using functional hand assessments.