Author(s)

Takashi Abe^1*, Ricardo B. Viana², Scott J. Dankel³, Jeremy P. Loenneke⁴

¹Graduate School of Health and Sports Science, Institute of Health and Sports Science & Medicine, Juntendo University, Inzai, Japan.
²Institute of Physical Education and Sport, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil.
³Department of Health and Exercise Science, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, USA.
⁴Department of Health, Exercise Science, and Recreation Management, Kevser Ermin Applied Physiology Laboratory, The University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, USA.

Background: Although handgrip strength is a biomarker for morbidity/mor-tality, there is lack of evidence on the effects of resistance training on handgrip strength in healthy adults of all ages. Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to assess the impact of resistance training on handgrip strength in healthy adults. Methods: Five databases/search engines were searched. Studies comparing different types of resistance exercise interventions versus a non-exercised control group on handgrip strength were included. The available data did not allow us to conduct the pre-planned meta-analyses; therefore, only descriptive statistics were performed to summarize the data. Results: Twenty studies (17 randomized and three non-randomized controlled trials) were included, most of which were conducted in older adults. Twelve studies reported no significant difference in the change in handgrip strength between the resistance training and control groups. Two studies showed increases in handgrip strength in the resistance training group compared with the control group. Other studies included results for multi-training groups or left/right hands and found increasing handgrip strength compared to controls, but only in one training group or one hand. Overall, the randomized and non-ran-domized clinical trials presented moderate risk of bias. Conclusions: Due to the lack of low risk-of-bias randomized controlled trials of young and middle-aged adults, different training protocols, and small sample sizes, the existing evidence appears insufficient to support resistance training for increasing handgrip strength in healthy adults. Future studies may seek to discern the optimal way to develop and employ resistance training to improve hand-grip strength.

Grip Strength, Strength Training, Biomarker, Healthy Adults

Abe, T. , Viana, R. , Dankel, S. and Loenneke, J. (2023) Different Resistance Exercise Interventions for Handgrip Strength in Apparently Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Clinical Medicine, 14, 552-581. doi: 10.4236/ijcm.2023.1412047.