Assessment of grip force sense test–retest reliability in healthy male participants

Abstract

There has been a lack of research to date regarding the test-retest reliability of grip force sense in healthy adult males. This study was therefore designed to explore this topic across a series of target force levels using an ipsilateral force reproduction task. The same experienced research staff conducted two testing sessions for each study participant, with 1 week between test sessions. Intraclass correlation coefficient values indicated that these force sensing tests exhibited good to fair reliability with respect to both absolute error (0.42–0.63) and constant error (0.49–0.60), although variable error was indicative of poor reliability (–0.85 to 0.14). Together, these results suggest that researchers can achieve a fair level of test-retest reliability when analysing grip force sense in healthy adult males, with results being most reliable at force levels of 20 N and 50 N, as determined based upon measured constant error and absolute error.

Practitioner summary: To ensure that grip force sense can be accurately interpreted over time, it is important to assess the test-retest reliability. It is recommended that practitioners measure the absolute error and constant error at force levels of 20 N and 50 N when assessing grip force sense in a clinical setting.

Keywords:

• Grip
• force sensing
• test–retest reliability
• force reproduction task
• proprioception

Acknowledgments

We sincerely appreciated the help of participants from Renmin University of China.

Disclosure statement

There were no conflicts of interest among authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was sponsored by the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province of China under Grant No. C2019408009.