A new study in press at the Journal of Hand Therapy (yes, a real thing) finds that millennial men may have significantly weaker hands and arms than men the same age did 30 years ago.
Researchers measured the grip strength (how strongly you can squeeze something) and pinch strength (how strongly you can pinch something between two fingers) of 237 healthy full-time students aged 20 to 34 at universities in North Carolina. And especially among males, the reduction in strength compared to 30 years ago was striking.
They study did find that men and women are now about the same, grip-strength wise. This doesn't shock me at all. You want to know what didn't exist in huge quantities thirty years ago? Computers. Video game consoles in every home at every TV. Boys didn't just sit around and stare at a screen while twiddling their fingers over buttons and toggles and switches. They went outside. The rode bikes. They played stickball. They ran. They swung on bars and jungle gyms and they climbed trees. They made up games and competed in them.
That era is pretty much over, except for those few parents who refuse to allow the electronic games to dominate the day. But those are as rare as those parents who refuse to give their kids a smart phone, aka a crack toy.
And so we're raising up a generation of girly-men, who are just as likely as their wives to need help opening jars and fixing something around the house.
Rather sad, I think
3 comments:
I'm wondering how long it will be before we start seeing all the reports on arthritis and other RSI injuries in thumbs, the back of your hands, etc., from constantly having our hands constantly hooked in a claw to cradle our little electronic pacifiers?
One of the top injuries in basic training in this current age, and I shit you not, is hip joints popping out while executing a FACING MOVEMENT.
Because these kids haven't done a damn thing to strengthen their hips or legs or any of the muscles or tendons or ligaments that are used when doing actual ACTIVITY. Screw running and jumping, these children can't do a fucking RIGHT FACE without injuring themselves.
I weep for my Army.
And who's fucking fault is that? The baby boomers/gen x need to take a good hard look in the mirror when they bitch about this shit. Who gave the Millennials trophys for participating and told them they were special snowflakes?
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