Tack, Matthias, Gruber, Rosalie, Betting, Leia et al. · Scientific reports · 2026 · DOI
This small study compared hand grip strength in 19 hospital workers with post-COVID syndrome (including 7 who met ME/CFS criteria) to 23 healthy controls. Researchers found that grip strength tended to be lower in the post-COVID group, particularly when tested a second time after a 60-minute break, which might suggest difficulty recovering after repeated effort. However, these are preliminary findings from a small group, and the authors note that grip strength alone is not reliable enough to diagnose post-COVID syndrome.
By analogy with ME/CFS, this study is relevant because both post-COVID syndrome and ME/CFS are characterised by fatigue and post-exertional symptoms. Hand grip strength testing offers a simple, objective measure that might help clinicians assess functional impairment in patients with these conditions. However, applicability to ME/CFS specifically remains unclear, since only 7 of the 19 PCS participants met ME/CFS criteria, and generalisability beyond this small hospital-worker cohort is limited.
This study does not establish that hand grip strength can diagnose post-COVID syndrome or ME/CFS; the authors themselves note predictive performance was only moderate and requires validation in larger groups. It does not prove hand grip strength is a specific marker of post-exertional malaise or fatigue; the observed reduction in session 2 is a correlation, not causal evidence. It does not generalise beyond the 19 post-COVID patients studied (only 7 of whom had ME/CFS), and does not demonstrate that grip strength testing should guide clinical treatment decisions.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Tack, Matthias, Gruber, Rosalie, Betting, Leia, Herbrandt, Swetlana, Schlang, Gerlinde, & Mattner, Frauke (2026). Interpreting hand grip strength in hospital employees with post-COVID syndrome compared to non-infected controls: a case-control study.. Scientific reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-51666-w
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-tack-2026-interpreting-hand,
author = {Tack, Matthias and Gruber, Rosalie and Betting, Leia and Herbrandt, Swetlana and Schlang, Gerlinde and Mattner, Frauke},
title = {Interpreting hand grip strength in hospital employees with post-COVID syndrome compared to non-infected controls: a case-control study.},
journal = {Scientific reports},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-51666-w},
note = {PubMed: 42103832},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/tack-2026-interpreting-hand},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-12. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/tack-2026-interpreting-hand
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