Have you heard, that our millennial generation now, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Hand Therapy, have weaker grips and wimpy handshakes?
My staff at ICS (Intellectual Crime Scene), are all millennials and they may abandon physical challenges for the delicacies of smartphone computing, so....we might actually have a real problem on our hands. Or maybe not.
In the study, researchers tested 237 young adults and found that "men ages 20 to 34 and women in their early 20s had significantly weaker grips than young people tested in 1985." This was stated in a U.S.A. Today article that expanded upon the findings. The researchers in this study said that this phenomenon stems from a generation that does more texting and clicking than manual labor.
What does this have to do with anything, you might ask, and should I actually be worried? "The fact that you have a weak grip is important because you probably are weak elsewhere," says Richard Bohannon, a physical therapist and a professor of health studies at Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C. He went on to say that a weaker grip might contribute to fragility in old age could cause you to be disabled and die a lot sooner than your peers.
Although the latter was rather gloomy and seemed inescapable---don't worry. Studies, in general, are not scaleable and consistent enough to actually effect you---micro-socially. So, go ahead, continue to enjoy your smartphones, texting, and clicking. A few of us in our generation might not be able to open a jar, according to this monolithic study, but we can help you with unlocking your smartphone! Plus, in a world of technological advancements, it's customary for evolution to rapidly adapt us for survival. For those who are still trying to physically do things---i.e., opening jars or manual labor---the process of natural selection will leave you behind.
