How Well Will You Age? Check Your Grip Strength

DUring a zoom interview, Maury Purnell, 85, is suspended in the air, firmly grasping a trapeze bar, answering the questions and smiling, no less. He manages everything in a checked buttoned shirt instead of gym clothes.

“Several of my peers have health problems,” he says. “I have had the chance of all this in recent years.” Purnell takes advantage of a unique health for his age, and research shows a clear relationship between what he presents at the moment – an impressive force of grip and longevity. “It is a solid marker of the risk for future clinical results, including premature death,” said Dr. Darryl Leong, cardiologist at McMaster University in Canada.

But that does not necessarily mean that you should become obsessed with the pumping of a compression ball daily. Despite the demonstration of the strength of the hand by Purnell on the trapeze, he has never specifically focused on improving his grip. It has always been a by-product.

This is why Grip is a key health indicator – and how to keep it loudly.

What gripping force tells you

The strength of adhesion is simply the amount of force with which you can shake hands, whether a handrail or a nut between your thumb and the index (ouch). A weak handle is partner with physical handicap and die earlier of all kinds of diseases, including heart disease.

It is a precious metric mainly because the researchers have found it reflect The total force of a person, not only in their hands, but through the body – and not only the quantity of muscle, but their strength. Body scans Do not show reliably This. As we age, muscles often become more fat and less useful, a problem that may not be apparent on analyzes, explains Jennifer Schrack, epidemiologist and director of the center on aging at Johns Hopkins.

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Muscle strength supports physical activity, which makes people healthier. “We know that physical activity is an important indicator of cardiovascular health and that muscle strength allows people to be physically active,” says Schrack.

Another reason why muscle strength is a key measure: it captures the health of various systems working together. Because it requires ample blood flowIt is a marker of heart health. Force is also based on nervous activation, which also demonstrates the health of the brain. After a stroke, while people recover the use of their motor neurons, their grip strength improveNotes Leong.

The drop of handle

Like the other markers of physical function and longevity, such as balance, adhesion is generally strong in living environment, then starts to dive At the end of the 1940s or in the early 1950s.

Researchers have identified average grip force For each age. Staying above the average suggests that you are getting older. “The trajectory can inform us of someone's health and longevity,” says Schrack. “You cannot prevent the decline, but you can slow it down.”

On a device called dynamometer, the average man under the age of 45 can generate About 100 pounds by force. In terms of gripping force, Leong thinks that this could roughly translate into the transport of a suitcase of 50 pounds in one hand, although it depends on factors such as the position of the hand and the shape of the suitcase. As they get older, they lose several pounds every five years (which could mean going to be able to hold a heavy pan with one hand to need two hands, for example). The image looks like women, except that they reach an average of about 65 pounds of force (equivalent to pouring a complete water kettle of one hand, roughly).

Experts agree This low resistance to the handle interferes with daily tasks at 35 pounds or below women and 59 pounds for men. However, higher minimums, 44 pounds for women and 78 pounds for men, can Better to predict poor health.

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The rapid reductions in the strength of adhesion could mean that you do not get enough physical activity. They also justify obtaining an exam by the doctor. “The weakness of the grip could be downstream of other problems,” says Schrack, such as the appearance of a chronic disease, or the worsening of that already diagnosed. Schrack find that people maintained more force when their chronic disease was relatively stable; Chronic diseases often cause inflammation, causing degraded to muscle proteins and repair.

Such bumps can also cause falls, the Main cause injury and accidental death in the elderly. When people with weakness of the grip lose their balance, they are more challenged to grasp a handrail or use their hands to break the fall. In addition, “if you have a low lean mass, you are more likely to have poor bone density, increasing the chances of a break,” explains Schrack.

How to measure it

Large studies focus on the strength of adhesion – rather than other types of strength, mainly because it is easy to measure. Bringing someone to tighten a dynamometer takes about three seconds, while measurement of the leg force can take 30 minutes, involving warming time, several muscle groups and a more expensive measurement system.

To measure the grip force most precisely, researchers use a gadget that costs around $ 200, but some less expensive versions are also holding, explains Nathan Lebraseur, director of the Mayo Clinic Kogod Center on aging. Tighten devices– with digital readings and adjustable handles – once every few months to see if the figures change. “The relative measure is the most important,” says Lebraseur. “A few books in a direction does not matter because you are interested in more important changes and trends.”

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You can also save your numbers over time for other strength movements like mounting the stairs. Just make sure to control factors such as body weight changes, Lebraseur explains. Also note that, because the stairs require both strength and balance, they do not specifically capture force as the adhesion tests do.

How – and when – to improve it

Recall that the strength of adhesion is so important because it represents a person's overall force, but the overall force is what is really the key to health, and not only to have a handshake that makes a bone. So, if you cannot open the same pot of pickles which was not sweat five years ago, the answer is not to pump a strengthening of adhesion while you watch television.

The solution is rather to obtain a lot of physical activity, including cardio most days and strength training at least twice a week. “We really need a versatile exercise strategy,” says Leong. “Do not limit yourself to hand pressures.” Many movements to strengthen strength work your hands in the process. There is Purnell trapeze training, but also pumps, pull -ups or simply suspended from a traction bar as you can.

If your handle is robust enough, it is a bridge to grasp dumbbells, dumbbells and exercise groups to strengthen the rest of your body and strengthen your socket. The same principle applies to the transport of grocery bags instead of transporting them. Use it or lose it. Grip or dive.

Until a few years ago, Purnell was a life tennis player, an excellent handle and versatile training. He continues to swim and lift weights. But his trainer, Karon Karter, underlines a surprising strategy that has strengthened his grip: working on posture. His handle becomes stronger “while I focus on his postural muscles in the upper back of the back”, in addition to the arms and the nucleus, she says. Purnell holds a board for two minutes. A righteous posture can reduce nerve activity, altering the grip mechanisms, especially as we age.

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Lebractor thinks that we should start monitoring the strength of grip around the age of 45, due to the decreases that tend to occur at this stage. “It is important to be very proactive during this period for healthy aging,” he said.

To preserve as much gripping force as possible, start to follow it and to optimize physical strength in their twenties or less, says Leong. “This defines the foundation,” he explains. Studies show that a good strength of adhesion in childhood traces To seize the force in adulthood and regular physical activity in the forties conduit To have a firm socket as a senior.

You will most likely have to take the initiative with these measures, because doctors are currently not measuring the strength of adhesion to exams. Schrack thinks it must change. “Several things we know count regarding functions, such as the grip of grip, are not measured by primary care physicians,” she said. “They should be measured in their forties and to leave, as a warning sign.”