Forearm rotation in healthy adults of all ages and both sexes.

Abstract

Factors such as sex, age, or hand dominance are supposed to influence forearm rotation; however, available data are scarce. This study therefore analyzed range of active supination and pronation bilaterally in 752 healthy white adults (age range, 20-95 years) of both sexes. Range of supination was higher than pronation. Range of forearm rotation was comparable between both sides, but it was higher in women than in men and inversely correlated with age. In contrast with women, where range started to decrease during the fifth decade of life, onset was later in men (seventh decade). No influence was observed with respect to hand dominance or constitutional variations. Thus, the contralateral side serves for clinical comparison independent from age, sex, hand dominance, or constitutional variances. The fact that several patients with a major limitation of pronation considered themselves healthy, but only 1 patient with limited supination did so, indirectly underlines the importance of restoring deficits of supination rather than pronation.