Is it legitimate to characterize muscle strenght using a limited number of measures?

• Autores: Richard W. Bohannon
• Localización: Journal of strength and conditioning research: the research journal of the NSCA, ISSN 1064-8011, Vol. 22, Nº. 1, 2008, págs. 166-173
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The purpose of this systematic review was to examine the legitimacy of using a single measure or a small set of measures of strength to characterize an individual's overall strength. Briefly, the methods involved: (a) a search of electronic databases, article reference lists, and personal files to identify relevant literature; and (b) a summarizing of that literature. As a result of the searches, 25 relevant articles were identified. The articles reported correlation coefficients, Cronbach's [alpha], and factor analysis. Together, these statistics suggest a tendency for different strength measures to be related. A close examination of the relationships, however, suggests that caution should be exercised in characterizing overall strength using a single measure such as grip strength. In conclusion, it may be legitimate to use one or several measures obtained from a single limb to characterize the strength of that limb but not the entire body. What this means practically is that the practitioner interested in characterizing strength of a limb can reduce test burden by testing a limited number of muscle actions of that limb.