Doctors Say Grip Strength Can Reveal How Long You'll Live—Is Yours Good Enough?
When was the last time you successfully opened a jar without assistance? If you’re drawing a blank, it’s time to start adding grip strength exercises to your workout routine. Grip strength is correlated to our cardiovascular health, muscle strength, and so much more—including death risk. Find out how to measure your grip below, plus easy tips for improving strength.
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Grip strength can tell you a lot about your overall health.Grip strength is a lot more than a muscle contest. "Research shows that grip strength is an important measure of overall health," internists Eve M. Glazier, MD, and Elizabeth Ko, MD, explained in an "Ask The Doctors" Q&A published by UCLA Health.
And the proof is in the pudding. In an interview with Cleveland Clinic, internal medicine and geriatrics doctor Ardeshir Hashmi, MD, confirmed that people "who maintain their grip strength age more slowly."
Across all age ranges, grip strength has proven to be "a reliable predictor" of muscle power, muscle mass, bone density, and nutritional status, per Glazier and Ko. But in older adults, they said that grip strength is used "as an accurate predictor of a decline in physical and mental function."
Weak grip strength has also been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality, according to multiple studies.
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Weak grip strength can increase mortality risk by 16 percent, according to research.A study published in the journal The Lancet tested 139,691 participants for grip strength via a Jamar dynamometer, a hydraulic device that medical experts consider the gold standard for precise grip strength measurement. During a four-year follow-up period, researchers assessed them for 13 health conditions, including death.
These included:
Researchers reported 3,3379 deaths during the follow-up period.
Their results showed that as grip strength goes up, mortality risk goes down. More specifically, greater grip strength was linked to a reduction in cardiovascular mortality, non-cardiovascular mortality, myocardial infarction, and stroke.
Interestingly, "grip strength was a stronger predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality than systolic blood pressure," they noted. Statistically, a 5kg (or about 11 pounds) drop in grip strength increased the risk of all-cause mortality by 16 percent.
"This study suggests that measurement of grip strength is a simple, inexpensive risk-stratifying method for all-cause death, cardiovascular death, and cardiovascular disease," concluded the authors.
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How to improve your grip strength:The good news is that it’s never too late to start improving your grip strength. If you already live an active lifestyle, Jake Depp, PT, a physical therapist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, suggests incorporating these four carries into your workout routine.
"Practice these carries by walking around with weights until your grip strength is close to giving out or your posture starts to break down. Rest in between and repeat," instructed Depp in a health blog published by the medical center.
However, if your grip strength is in need of some major TLC (i.e., you struggle holding objects five pounds or less), Depp recommends "weighted wrist curls and wrist extensions with a light dumbbell." He said, "Start light by using one-pound weights."
Alternatively, he added, "If you don’t have weights at home, any canned food or water bottle will work. Progress by adding one pound every two weeks."