Assessment of Muscle Strength

Muscle strength is essential to perform daily activities, and it is an important predictor of the length of a hospital stay, hospital readmission, and mortality, as well as being related to mobility and unfavorable outcomes. The muscle strength test is used to identify weakness and detect change in muscle strength. However, it is difficult to detect changes in muscle strength without the use of a quantitative test, which also serves the purpose of increasing motivation in subjects with a gait problem. To be used in a clinical setting, the test must be practical, which means considering the cost of the equipment, the space required for the equipment, the portability of equipment, safety (risk of injury), the duration of the measurement, and the ease of data acquisition. The manual muscle test, hand grip dynamometry, handheld dynamometry, and functional tests (e.g., the sit-to-stand test, heel raise test, etc.) are all useful in a clinical setting.