Assessing the potential of hand grip strength as an indicator of spinal muscle size

Abstract

In order to assess how well hand grip strength can predict spinal muscle size and to determine if scaling improves prediction, Biobank data was acquired consisting of hand grip strength, age, height, body mass and abdominal magnetic resonance images for 150 age-matched male and female participants. The cross-sectional area of the multifidus and erector spinae was measured from the images at the L3/L4 level. Correlation strength and prediction errors were quantified for muscle size predicted from hand grip strength, age, height, and body mass. The effect of scaling muscle area by height and height squared was also determined. All variables correlated significantly with spine muscle size. The strongest correlator was hand grip strength (r=0.61, p<0.05) with a prediction error of 678 mm2. The strength of the correlations was reduced when muscle areas were scaled. Hand grip strength can predict spine muscle size in male and female participants; however, the confidence intervals on the predicted values are larger than would be expected from measuring muscle size directly using imaging technologies. Scaling by height or height squared does not improve the ability of hand grip strength to predict muscle size.