The effect of hand-grip strength on hand skills and visual reaction time in some sport branches in which hands are used and not used dominantly

This study was carried out to determine the effect of hand grip strength on dexterity and visual reaction time of athletes competing in basketball and volleyball branches, where the hand is predominantly used, and football and athletics branches, where the hand is not densely used. A total of 60 volunteer male athletes, 15 playing basketball, 15 playing volleyball, 15 playing football, and 15 doing athletics sports, between the ages of 18-30, studying at a university, participated in the study. After taking the demographic information (age, height, body weight) of the athletes included in this cross-sectional study, Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) Tanita-BC 418 MA device for body fat percentage measurement, Jamar brand hand dynamometer for hand grip strength measurement, Nine-Hole Peg Test for measurement of dexterity, and a specially developed software program for visual reaction time measurement is used. According to the results of the Repeated Measured Analysis of Variance, which was used to determine the change of right and left-hand grip strength according to the branches, the right and left-hand grip strength differed (P=0.033) according to the branches. As reported by the results of the Repeated Measured Analysis of Variance used to determine the change in right and left hand skills according to the branches, the right and left hand grasping skills differed (P=0.036) in each branch. As a result of the One-Way Analysis of Means (ANOM) performed among branches in terms of Visual Reaction, it was seen that the branch difference did not significantly affect (P=0.26) the visual reaction. Consequently, it was determined that both right and left-hand grip strengths of volleyball and basketball players were significantly higher than athletics and football players, there was no significant difference between branches in terms of right-hand skill; however, the left-hand skills of volleyball and basketball players were significantly higher than athletics and football players. Key Words: Dexterity, Football, Visual Reaction, Hand Grip Strength, Volleyball