Wellness Wednesday is sponsored by Intermountain Health
I was in elementary school when pro wrestling was at its pinnacle with WrestleMania. And while my friends were fans of Hulk Hogan, I decided to rebel, proclaiming my favorite wrestler was “The Claw.”
Baron Von Raschke…AKA “The Claw” or the “Iron Claw” brought his own brand of odd to pro wrestling. His signature move, “The Brain Claw,” brought opponents to the mat.
Now in his 80’s, his daughter Heidi shares photos of her dad, which may be anecdotal evidence of grip strength indicating health.
Erica Quigley is a Health Promotions Specialist at Select Health, and she conducts a lot of grip tests. She said, “It's the force exerted by your hand, wrist and forearm muscles, when you're clenching, when you're making a fist, grasping or holding, not just the hand. It's not just the hand, so it's pretty much your whole arm, from your elbow down.”
So, forget squeezing a scary dude’s brain in a pro wrestling match. Grip strength is about overall health.
“It can correlate to heart disease, cardiovascular issues, arthritis, carpal tunnel. It's even related to type two diabetes and certain cancers. So, if it's a low grip strength, there's something else going on with the body,” said Quigley.
And then, the gauntlet. I put my own grip strength to a test.
It turns out, the grip strength in my right hand was 96.6. Quigley said, that’s OK.
“So, for men we’re looking at between 70 to 160 lbs.”
With a chip on my grip, I asked for a left-handed test.
"Your left hand is actually stronger....106 pounds,” said Quigley.
“If you want to do the grip strength test, we can see where you're at and see if it's something you need to either talk to your primary care provider about, if you’re OK, if you need to maintain it or you need to strengthen it,” said Quigley.
There’s also evidence that focusing on exercises to boost grips strength improves your health as you age.
Click here for information about how you can strengthen your grip and track your progress.
