Grip Strength

What Grip Strength Measures

Grip strength captures the isometric force the muscles of the hand and forearm can generate in a single maximal squeeze. It's a narrow, specific measurement of muscle force at that one joint, but researchers use it as a simple stand-in for muscle strength more broadly, since it's fast to collect and doesn't require specialized equipment beyond the dynamometer itself.^[2]

How It's Measured

The Jamar hand dynamometer is the most widely used instrument for measuring grip strength in clinical and research settings, with established test-retest, inter-rater, and intra-rater reliability behind it.^[2] A reading is taken as a maximal voluntary squeeze against the dynamometer's handle, and researchers have called for grip strength to be measured under standard, consistent conditions so that readings taken at different times or by different examiners can be compared to each other.^[2]

Why People Track Grip Strength

Grip strength shows up repeatedly in large-scale epidemiological research precisely because it's so easy to measure at scale, a quick dynamometer reading rather than a lab test or an imaging appointment. That practicality is part of why it's become one of the most studied physical-performance markers in cohort studies that follow tens or hundreds of thousands of people over years, alongside other logged fitness markers like bone density and cardio recovery.

How Go Go Gaia Tracks Grip Strength

Go Go Gaia doesn't include a built-in grip test. If you've measured your own grip strength with a handheld dynamometer, whether at a gym, a physical therapy office, or with your own device, you can log that reading in the app, and it's stored as a dated data point charted alongside your other body-composition and fitness metrics.

What the Research Shows

The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study measured grip strength with a handgrip dynamometer in 139,691 adults ages 35 to 70 across 17 economically and culturally diverse countries, following them for a median of four years.^[1] Within that cohort, lower grip strength was associated with higher all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, and the researchers reported that grip strength was a stronger predictor of death in their data than systolic blood pressure.^[1]

A separate review in Age and Ageing looked across the broader body of grip strength research and found wide variation in the equipment and protocols different studies used, while noting the Jamar dynamometer has the most established reliability data behind it. The review concluded that grip strength is a good simple measure of muscle strength when it's measured under standard conditions.^[2]

Related Terms

Frequently Asked Questions

Educational information based on published sources. Not medical advice. For personal concerns, please consult your doctor.

What does a grip strength measurement actually test?

It tests the isometric force the muscles of the hand and forearm can produce in a single squeeze, measured with a handheld dynamometer. It's a measurement of muscle force at that joint, not a general fitness or cardio test.

Why do researchers study grip strength in relation to aging?

It's simple to measure with a standardized instrument, which makes it practical to collect from very large groups of people. That practicality is part of why it's shown up in major population studies, including the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study, which tracked grip strength across nearly 140,000 adults in 17 countries.

How does Go Go Gaia track grip strength?

Go Go Gaia doesn't include a built-in dynamometer test. If you've measured your own grip strength with a handheld dynamometer, you can log the reading in the app, where it's stored as a dated data point and charted as a trend over time.