THE EFFECT of LATERALITY on HANDGRIP STRENGTH in RIGHT-HANDED MALE ARMWRESTLERS

THE EFFECT of LATERALITY on HANDGRIP STRENGTH in RIGHT-HANDED MALE ARMWRESTLERS

Selçuk Akpınar1, Raif Zileli2, Emre Şenyüzlü2,Alpaslan Ince1and Seydi A. Tunca3

1Nevşehir University, Faculty of Education, Physical Education and Sport Department, Nevşehir, TURKEY

2Bilecik ŞeyhEdabali University, Physical Education and Sport Department, Bilecik, TURKEY

3Gazi University, School of Physical Education and Sport, Ankara, TURKEY

Purpose

While on gross inspection, the human body appears anatomically symmetric, asymmetry is a basic organizing principle of the human nervous system (Gazzaniga, 1989). Anatomical asymmetries in the hands (HardyckPetrinovich, 1977), feet (Brown & Taylor, 1988), eyes (Bourassa, McManus, & Bryden, 1996; HebbalMysorekar, 2003) and ears (HebbalMysorekar, 2003; Jung & Jung, 2003) are generally small. However, functional asymmetries in the nervous system can result in substantial behavioral asymmetries. This left and right side asymmetry is called “laterality” and as it is stated above can be found in each body part with bilateral symmetry in humans (Kubota & Demura, 2011). This laterality can be also seen maximal arm isometric strength between left and right arms in sedentary subjects (Aoki & Demura, 2008; Kubota & Demura, 2011), tennis and baseball players (Miura, Tomosue, & Ikegawa, 1994), and volleyball players (ÖnderEler, 2008). Even though this maximal strength laterality was found in tennis, baseball, and volleyball players, these sports predominantly require using dominant arm. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of laterality on handgrip strength in right-handed male armwrestlers computed with both arms.

Subjects

The total number of 68 right-handed male armwrestlers (Mage = 27.35 ± 3.25) computed in Turkish National Championship with both arms voluntarily participated in this study. The participants were from 8 different weight classes (0-60 kg, 65 kg, 70 kg, 75 kg, 80 kg, 85 kg, 90 kg, and 100 kg).

Method

A handgrip isometric strength test wasemployed to measure the muscular strength of armwrestlers. Instructions were given to stand erect, with feet shoulder wide apart and hands hanging down naturally at both sides of the body. Armwrestlers were then asked to squeeze the digital handgrip dynamometer (Takei TKK#5101, Tokyo, Japan) as hard as possible with one hand, without producing any other body movement. Three trials were conducted with each hand (one min brake was provided between each trials) and the maximum score for each was used for analysis.Half of the participants were measured with the dominant hand first and then non-dominant hand measurements were taken. Paired-sample t test was used for the statistical analysis with p significance level .05.

Results

The statistical analysis displayed a significant difference between right and left hand maximal handgrip strength in right-handed armwrestlers, t = 2.09, p < .05. According to the result, right hand maximal handgrip strength (M = 67.55 ± 12.21) was found be significantly greater than that of left hand (M = 66.03 ± 12.36).

Conclusion

In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of laterality on hand grip strength in right-handed male armwrestlers computed with both arms in Turkish National Championship. The result showed a significant superiority in favor of right arm. The armwrestlers participated in this study computed with their both arms in Turkish National Championship. They all stated that they had been trained with both arms during their practice regime before the competition. Normally, one would expect to see similar rate of maximal handgrip strength for both arms. However, the result did not show this pattern. Therefore, training predominantly with the dominant arm (Miura, Tomosue, & Ikegawa, 1994; ÖnderEler, 2008) or training with both arms (armwrestlers) does not affect too much the handgrip laterality in right-handed subjects. This may be related to the nervous and motor system coordination to produce maximal strength. As the left hemisphere of the brain controls the right side of the body, this control mechanism produces greater strength in the arm even though both arms have the same amount of trainings.

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