Grip Strength

What this measure records

Maximum grip force, in kilograms to one decimal place. Higher is better.

epnote's assessment screen records the side for any test, so a left and a right reading are never confused.

It is in epnote's sarcopenia assessment template alongside SARC-F, a chair stand and gait speed.

Protocol

epnote does not hold a transcribed standardised protocol for this measure yet. The detail that matters clinically, such as chair height, arm position, counting rules and course length, is not in this repository's research, so it is not written here.

Normative values

epnote does not hold sourced normative values for this measure yet. Rather than publish a table from memory, this section is empty until the numbers are transcribed from a primary source and checked against it, the same way the change thresholds below were.

Change thresholds

A change on any measure can be the client or it can be the test. The minimal detectable change (MDC) is the smallest change larger than the measurement error. The minimal clinically important difference (MCID) is the smallest change a client would notice as worthwhile.

Only thresholds that have been read from the primary paper and checked against it appear below. Everything else is withheld.

A threshold belongs to the population it was measured in. Check the MCID and MDC calculator to compare a client's own change against these.

• MDC95, Older adults (community-dwelling): Dynamometer type and score aggregation (single-hand vs mean/max) must be matched before use.

Reporting this measure in a funder report

• Write the test name in full the first time, then the short form if you must.
• Write the unit in words: seconds, metres, repetitions.
• Put the change in daily life before the number.
• Give the baseline and the current value, so the reader can see the change without doing the arithmetic.
• Say how the test was done if anything about it was unusual, such as a walking aid or a different chair.

Related measures

• Five times sit to stand and gait speed, the other two performance measures in the sarcopenia sequence.

Questions

Should you record the best or the average of three trials?

Both are used, and they give different numbers, so the one thing that matters is doing the same thing every time. Record which you used in the note on the test card so the next report can match it.

Does the dominant hand matter for grip strength?

It changes the number, so record the side. epnote has a left, right and both control on every test card for this reason.

What grip strength indicates sarcopenia?

There are published consensus cut-offs, and epnote does not hold one transcribed from its source and checked, so it does not print one. Use the cut-off from the consensus document you follow.

What change in grip strength is larger than measurement error?

The change thresholds section on this page shows what epnote has verified, with the population and the citation.

Related

• Five Times Sit to Stand Test (5xSTS)Outcome measures
• Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB)Outcome measures
• MCID and MDC CalculatorFree tools

Sources

Everything on this page comes from one of these. epnote writes nothing clinical from memory.

• epnote measures library: the unit, direction and decimal places each measure is recorded indata/measures.ts and data/tests-listed.ts
• epnote listed tests and batteries research, which sources each measure's unit and directiondocs/research/tests-listed.md
• epnote threshold verification pack, 25 October 2026: all 83 evidence rows checked against their primary papers, 57 cleared on 26 October 2026docs/research/2026-10-25-threshold-verification.md
• epnote NDIS EP report template research, for the plain-language rules on reporting a measurementdocs/research/ndis/ndis-ep-report-templates-2026-10-20.md

What this page does not cover yet

• Normative values by age and sex for Grip Strength are not in the repo's research, so that section is empty.
• A transcribed standardised protocol for Grip Strength is not in the repo's research, so that section is empty.
• The brief asks for an Australian normative data table and sourced sarcopenia cut-offs. The repo holds neither, so both sections are empty. This is the page furthest from its brief.