Falls from playground equipment are a major cause of childhood injury and death. The purpose of thisexperiment was to quantify children's maximum capacity to hang onto a rung and to determine how thisstrength varies for factors such as hand dominance and gender. Breakaway strength (a measure of themaximum capacity to hang onto a handhold) was measured for 130 children ages 5-11 on a 38.1mmdiameter horizontal cylinder. Breakaway strength was significantly affected by hand dominance (p=0.022)and gender (p=0.015), with breakaway strength being greater for males and the dominant hand. Significantcovariate predictors for breakaway strength included hand length and the interaction between gender andgrip strength. Breakaway strength increased with grip strength and age, and more so for males thanfemales. Breakaway strength normalized by bodyweight shows that female participants on average andyoung children (age 5) of both sexes could not support their bodyweight with one hand. The resultssuggest that playground handholds similar to the handhold tested here may not be suitable for all children.
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