02/14/2025
Hand and Pinch Strength...When kids have a functional finger strength levels, they are able to write and color with endurance. They are able to manipulate small items.
🔵Finger strength looks like the ability to open and close plastic baggies and other meal containers at lunch time in the school lunch room.
🔵It looks like the ability to manipulate clothing fasteners like buttons, snaps, and even the buckle on a car seat.
🔵It looks like maintaining a grip on a pencil, coordinated pencil lines, erasing completely, and coloring without stopping every few seconds
Finger strength can be tested to see if grip and pinch strength are at typical levels for the child’s age, but if you are noticing that activities the child should be accomplishing like managing items is hard, you can look into hand strengthening and grip strength exercises in more depth.
Hand strength is impacted by various components. When it comes to hand strength, there is a lot to uncover. Many aspects of motor skills impact strength and endurance in the hands. Some of those areas include these concepts:
⚈Intrinsic hand strength
⚈Thumb strength and stability
⚈Motor control
⚈Separation of the sides of the hand
⚈In-hand manipulation
⚈Wrist stability
⚈Wrist extension
⚈Finger strength
⚈Range of motion of the arm: upper arm, forearm, wrist, fingers, and thumb
⚈Hand muscle tone
These hand strengthening activities build stronger hands: https://www.theottoolbox.com/hand-strengthening-activities/
