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Gender differences in hand grip strength of the child athletes by using absolute, ratio and allometric scaling methods

Mihri Baris Karavelioglu, Halit Harmanci, Gokhan Caliskan

The purpose of this study was to determine gender differences in hand grip strength of the child athletes using absolute, ratio and allometric scaling methods. 75 male (age: 10.47 ± 1.11 years) and 65 female (age: 10.51 ± 1.13 years) healthy and physical active child athletes aged 8-10 years volunteered to participate in this study. Arm volume measurements of the child athletes were conducted using a water displacement method. Right and left hand grip strength was measured with hand dynamometer. A dependent t-test was used to make a gender-based comparison of hand grip strength in absolute and proportion to body size. There were no significant strength differences found between boys and girls in terms of absolute, ratio scaling and allometric scaling methods related to arm volume (p>0.05). However, maximum hand grip strength of the boys was higher than girls both ratio scaling and allometric scaling methods related to body mass (p<0.05).