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Updated: May 30, 2026
Measurement of Spatial Stability in Precision Grip
Published on: June 4, 2020
Influence of pain associated with musculoskeletal disorders on grip force timing
Na Jin Seo1, Bhagwant S Sindhu, Orit Shechtman
1Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering & Applied Science, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. seon@uwm.edu
Study Design:
Retrospective repeated-measures design.
Introduction:
Pain is a common symptom associated with musculoskeletal conditions.
Purpose:
This study examined if pain resulting from a unilateral upper extremity musculoskeletal injury compromises the person's ability to rapidly initiate and release handgrip.
Methods:
Delays in initiating and releasing a handgrip were determined for 28 individuals with "low pain" and 12 individuals with "high pain" in the injured upper extremity. All participants had no pain in the uninjured upper extremity.
Results:
The high-pain group was 10% slower in initiating and releasing a grip than the low-pain group, in both injured and uninjured upper extremities, for both maximal and submaximal grips. In addition, delay in grip initiation was, on average, 8% longer for the injured than for the uninjured upper extremity.
Conclusions:
Unilateral musculoskeletal pain appears to delay grip initiation and relaxation bilaterally, perhaps due to a centrally mediated mechanism.
Level Of Evidence:
n/a.
