Table 4.

Comparison of pinch strength of the third finger between absence and presence of the palmaris longus muscle in the right and left hands

	Years	PLM	Number of boys	Pinch strength of the third finger (kg)	p value	Number of girls	Pinch strength of the third finger (kg)	p value
				Mean ± SD			Mean ± SD
Right	6–7	Present	40	1.64 ± 0.50	0.190	39	1.64 ± 0.62	0.024
		Absent	14	1.42 ± 0.55		26	1.31 ± 0.44
	8–9	Present	86	2.08 ± 0.75	0.152	68	1.60 ± 0.61	0.471
		Absent	35	1.87 ± 0.61		36	1.70 ± 0.71
	10–11	Present	100	2.43 ± 0.77	0.549	74	2.11 ± 0.65	0.168
		Absent	30	2.34 ± 0.46		37	1.92 ± 0.66
Left	6–7	Present	37	1.59 ± 0.52	0.682	37	1.45 ± 0.51	0.139
		Absent	17	1.53 ± 0.59		28	1.26 ± 0.53
	8–9	Present	88	1.93 ± 0.68	0.095	66	1.50 ± 0.59	0.771
		Absent	33	1.71 ± 0.49		38	1.54 ± 0.76
	10–11	Present	95	2.31 ± 0.68	0.603	72	1.94 ± 0.61	0.191
		Absent	35	2.24 ± 0.74		39	1.78 ± 0.59

PLM palmaris longus muscle, SD standard deviation