With the emerging world of robotics and the mechanical design issues of grasping objects, hand kinematics has become a major field of study. Scientist spend countless hours on discerning how the placement of individual fingers on items is affected by the end-goal action of lifting, raising, throwing, catching and moving. Hand placement on the object to be grasped is affected by the nature of the upcoming task to be performed following contact.
Depending on the accuracy requirements and what the individual intends to do with an item affects how the hand is shaped during the reaching movement. How people grasp objects can give insight about the movement that is being planned afterward.
The thumb and index finger have a stronger force production capability compared to the other digits. For maximum grip strength people assume different upper-limb postures. It is well known that grip strength can be affected by positions of the upper extremity and coaches use posture to augment particular exercises.
There is a standard protocol for measuring grip strength recommended by the American Society of Hand Therapists. The subject is seated with the shoulder adducted and neutrally rotated, the elbow flexed at 90 and the forearm and wrist in neutral position. The point is, as a coach using a standard protocol to measure grip strength is necessary in order to fairly compare athletes.
The Pendulum Gripper is a Great Testing Tool for Grip Strength
There are basic anatomical classifications of the types of ways our hands and fingers interact with objects - power grip, pinch grip, precision grip, hook grip, ball grip, finger abduction and adduction - are standards of interactions that must be addressed when designing exercise protocols. These grip variation have to do with the number of digits, their placement and the amount of palmer surface used when a person interacts with a gripping device. These variations of hand grips and grasping techniques determine how much of our musculature and how much of the extremities can be used to add or reduce gripping power.
The Pendulum Grip Cart was designed to carry all the tools necessary to train each anatomical variation. Each grip apparatus on the cart has an associated rule for lifting it. Having athletes interact with all the devices throughout their careers insures that they will have an opportunity to maximally strengthen all the musculature of the fingers, forearms and hands to Get Strong.
