Reliability of a hand gripping endurance test.

The aim of this study was to assess the reproducibility of a new endurance test for hand grip movements. On six occasions separated by at least 3 days, 30 healthy subjects performed six maximal endurance tests in two different positions with a hand grip tool attached to an isokinetic dynamometer. The test consisted of repeated maximal grip movements (1-min bouts for men and 30-s bouts for women subjects) at an angular velocity of 45 degrees/s. A custom-made PC programme was used to collect data on peak torque and mechanical work, and to provide the following parameters: basal torque, basal work, time until basal values fell to 20, 30 and 50% of the initial peak values, slopes of decay of torque and work over time. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICCC) was then computed to assess the reproducibility of the parameters obtained during the tests. An 'almost perfect' (0.8 < ICCC = 1) reproducibility of the basal torque values in both positions and a 'substantial' (0.6 < ICCC = 0.8) or 'almost perfect' reproducibility of the slope values referred to the torque decay over time was observed. Feasible applications of this new endurance test in ergonomics and vocational rehabilitation are discussed.