Table 5.

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

	Years	PLM right	Number of boys	Pinch strength of the fourth finger (kg)	p value	Number of girls	Pinch strength of the fourth finger (kg)	p value
				Mean ± SD			Mean ± SD
Right	6–7	Present	40	0.85 ± 0.41	0.689	39	0.87 ± 0.46	0.009
		Absent	14	0.80 ± 0.43		26	0.59 ± 0.35
	8–9	Present	86	1.40 ± 0.67	0.001	68	0.97 ± 0.50	0.924
		Absent	35	0.98 ± 0.52		36	0.98 ± 0.56
	10–11	Present	100	1.55 ± 0.65	0.584	74	1.31 ± 0.60	0.026
		Absent	30	1.48 ± 0.53		37	1.04 ± 0.58
Left	6–7	Present	37	0.92 ± 0.48	0.302	37	0.80 ± 0.52	0.094
		Absent	17	0.78 ± 0.33		28	0.59 ± 0.44
	8–9	Present	88	1.13 ± 0.59	0.011	66	0.81 ± 0.45	0.919
		Absent	33	0.88 ± 0.42		38	0.82 ± 0.54
	10–11	Present	95	1.44 ± 0.59	0.244	72	1.03 ± 0.54	0.355
		Absent	35	1.30 ± 0.59		39	0.93 ± 0.51

PLM palmaris longus muscle, SD standard deviation