How healthy is your heart? check your hand

New Delhi : Do you know, your hand can speak a lot about your heart’s condition? Yes, a recent study says, a person with better hand grip strength may be at low risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases. They are likely to enjoy better heart functioning throughout their life. 

Researchers analysed cardiovascular magnetic resonance images and data on handgrip strength from 5,065 participants and said that the strength of a hand grip measures the muscular strength and can be helpful to measure the cardiovascular threat following death.

A research study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, mentioned that people with stronger hand grips often pump more blood per heartbeat irrespective of their lower heart mass.

This further indicates that the heart is suffering less from a condition known as ‘Remodelling -- reshaping of the heart muscle, which happens in reaction to sudden problems such as high blood pressure or a heart attack. In medical terms, less remodelling is considered as reduced chance of cardiovascular ailments.

Steffen Petersen, Professor at the Queen Mary University in Britain, said, "Our study of over 4,600 people shows that better hand grip strength is associated with having a healthier heart structure and function." 

"Handgrip strength is an inexpensive, reproducible and easy to implement the measure, and could become an important method for identifying those at a high risk of heart disease and preventing major life-changing events, such as heart attacks," he mentioned.

Sources confirmed that researchers have adopted a statistical model to consider certain factors that could help them to assemble the data such as baseline demographics, cardiac risk factors, drivers of muscle mass, and physical activity level and so on.