For children with non-severe burn injury, recovering musculoskeletal strength is challenging, according to a study published in Burns. This is especially the case for those who were assessed closer to the time of injury or burnt at a young age, according to Treya M. Long, PhD, and colleagues, who conducted a retrospective, cross-sectional audit of routinely collected clinical data. Using paired t-tests, grip strength comparisons were made against normative data. To evaluate the impact of clinical, demographic, and physical variables on grip strength, general linear regressions with backward elimination were performed. Compared with age, sex, and hand dominance-matched norms, children who were right hand (RH)-dominant had reduced RH and left hand (LH) grip strength. Females especially appeared to be at a higher risk for low grip strength scores if burnt at a young age.
