How efficient is your grip strength?

Grip strength is needed all day, every day, from picking up the kettle to carrying heavy bags of shopping. Interestingly, a study in the Sports Science Journal identified a direct relationship between grip strength and shoulder health. The importance of grip strength have also been indicators for cardiovascular health and blood sugar regulation, and those who have problems in these areas have co-existing poor grip strength.

Amazingly, 35 of the muscles that are involved in moving the fingers lie in the forearm and hand, which is why strengthening from the shoulder through to the fingers is so important. Try the following exercises to improve your grip strength:-

# Grab a stress ball and repetitively open and close your hand. This will help condition the muscles that grip on to objects.

# Loop a rubber band around your fingers and thumb and repeated splay your fingers and thumb apart. Building strength here will allow better control of your grip strength.

# Holding a light weight, and your elbow at 90 degrees, slowly twist your hand so your palm is facing upwards, and then return to downwards (similar to using a screwdriver). This exercise enables your grip strength to be strong in all hand positions.

# Pinching two plates together and hold for 15-20 seconds, this will focus on thumb/finger grip strength.