Avaliação da força de preensão palmar e limiar de tolerância a dor à pressão entre indivíduos jovens e idosos

Objective: Was to compare and verify the associations between muscle strength and pressure pain threshold (PPT) between elderly and young individuals. Methods: Observational cross-sectional study in which 53 volunteers participated and were evaluated in relation to muscle strength through handgrip strength tests, maximum isometric knee extension strength tests and trunk extension tests. The PPT assessment was carried out using algometry in the following regions: hand, vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, and lumbar region. Data were analyzed using the SPSS v.26 package and Spearman visualization coefficients were established. Results: The young group presented higher values in relation to dynamometry (p<0.05) in all assessments compared to the elderly, but no significant differences were found in relation to PPT. The group of young people showed significant and moderate associations (r= 0.410 to r= 0.599) between strength x PPT. In the elderly group, correlations ranged from moderate (r= 0.536 to r= 0.597) to strong (r= 0.607 to r= 0.725). Conclusion: Young people obtained higher values in strength assessments and in their relationship with the elderly, but there was no difference between the PPT between the groups. In the young group, moderate associations were found between the strength variables and PPT. In the elderly group, the associations between FPP x algometry were moderate and strong.