Role of Scapular Muscle Strengthening on Grip Strength and Handwriting Speed among Physiotherapy Students

Niharika  Jha; Sapna  Dhiman; Sanya  Kundra; Ananya  Shrivastava; Saurabh  Kumar

doi:10.18502/jimc.v9i3.21827

Niharika Jha School of Physiotherapy, Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University, New Delhi, India
Sapna Dhiman School of Physiotherapy, Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University, New Delhi, India
Sanya Kundra School of Physiotherapy, Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University, New Delhi, India
Ananya Shrivastava School of Physiotherapy, Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University, New Delhi, India
Saurabh Kumar Faculty of Physiotherapy, SGT University, Gurugram, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jimc.v9i3.21827

Keywords: Hand strength, Handwriting, Muscles, Physical therapy modalities, Students

Abstract

Background: The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of scapular muscle strengthening exercises on grip strength and handwriting speed among physiotherapy students.

Methods: A pre-post study was conducted with 40 participants both male and female aged 18-24 years, who were right-handed and were able to read and write in English. The participants were recruited through convenient sampling, and then, randomly allocated into two groups i.e., Group A (Control) and Group B (Experimental). The experimental group B (20 participants) received scapular muscle strengthening exercises for three days per week for six weeks, whereas the control group A (20 participants) practiced one-page handwriting for the same frequency and duration. Then grip strength and handwriting speed were measured following intervention by hand dynamometer and handwriting speed test, respectively.

Results: The mean age of the participants was 21.72 and 21.67 in the group A and group B, respectively. The data was analysed using the paired t-test and independent t-test which revealed that Group B’s handwriting speed and grip strength improved significantly when compared to Group A (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The scapular exercise receiving group significantly showed an increase in grip strength and handwriting speed (words per min), therefore to increase handwriting speed and grip strength, scapular strengthening exercises are effective.