Quote:
Originally Posted by Jane P.
I had a physical therapist tell me that grip strength in women has been correlated with longevity. She didn't cite anything so I don't know where she got her information.
She was a professional golfer before she became a PT, so she had a very strong grip, but she told me that she continued to work on making it even stronger.
I guess the point of this post is that it's something worth making an effort to improve. After all, our hands are what give us the dexterity to do most things in life.
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I've heard it too, but haven't bothered to look it up; I'm assuming it comes from epidemiological studies looking at fitness indicators in association with longevity and disease risk.
My sense is that handgrip strength as a marker is less about grip in isolation, and more about grip in relation to ability to OTHER things, as in Sue's example, deadlifting, and Alta's (thank you!) suggestion of being able to hang from a pull-up bar. And those themselves are indicators of being able to do functional movements in everyday life. At the same time, I think (as in my own example) that it can be a limiting factor in getting better at those other things.
Anyway, agreeing - it's worth working on, for its own sake as well as for its contribution to other movements.