gms | German Medical Science

14th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH), 11th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy (IFSHT)

17.06. - 21.06.2019, Berlin

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Price of a finger

Meeting Abstract

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  • presenting/speaker Martin Van - Plastic Surgery and Hand Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • Francesca Ghini - Plastic Surgery and Hand Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • Ravi Mallina - Plastic Surgery and Hand Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • Rajive Jose - Plastic Surgery and Hand Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom

International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand. International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy. 14th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH), 11th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy (IFSHT), 11th Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy (IFSHT). Berlin, 17.-21.06.2019. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2020. DocIFSSH19-1279

doi: 10.3205/19ifssh0926, urn:nbn:de:0183-19ifssh09266

Published: February 6, 2020

© 2020 Van et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

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Objectives/Interrogation: Traumatic loss of an index finger is offered twice the amount of compensation as compared to a loss of little finger. However, the little finger plays a pivotal role in power grip thus is underestimated in its importance. Our aim was to test our hypothesis that loss of the little finger will result in greater loss of grip strength compared to loss of the index finger.

Methods: Grip strength in the power grip position was measured in 12 healthy volunteers using a JAMAR hand dynamometer. Grip strength of their dominant hand was recorded as a mean kg force of three attempts in three grip configurations 1) using all fingers 2) excluding the index finger and 3) excluding the little finger. Grip strength percentage compared to the full hand was calculated and statistical significance was investigated with a two-tailed T-test

Results and Conclusions: Participants' age varied from 19-64 years, with 4 males and 8 females. Mean full hand grip strength was 28.3 kg force; grip strength with index finger excluded was 65.8% and with little finger excluded was 66.2%. There was no significant difference in grip strength percentage between index or little finger exclusion (p=0.92).

We did not find a difference in power grip using a simulated model of index or little finger loss in a healthy volunteer cohort. Limitations of the study and future study designs are discussed.