The way our body is designed is quite crucial in the field of sports. Be it athletics or any indoor games, everything that is happening inside or architected outside will definitely play some major role in the activity we do.

Greater height means greater distance you can cover in one jump, which also means it is easy to drop in goals in basketball. Well, the reverse happens in Football. Moreover, it is our body that somehow reflects the positive or negative effects on the field.

Amidst all these assumptions, a research conducted by the University of South Australia’s Dr. Grant Tomkinson and his son, year 11 student Jordan Tomkinson, the research looked at the digit ratio, the difference in length between the index finger and ring finger, in which over 57 adolescent boys are involved.

Dr Tomkinson explained, “The ring finger in males is typically longer than the index finger, whereas the fingers are about the same length in females,” added that there is some evidence to suggest that the digit ratio is influenced by the levels of testosterone present during the early development of the foetus.

“The more testosterone the foetus produces, the longer the ring finger, so the smaller the digit ratio,” said Tomkinson.

Later, both the father and son tried to check if the foetus is related to the muscular strength, which in turn could be linked to sports performance. The pair recorded the age, digit ratio, body mass and right handgrip strength of the participants, who were all aged 13-18 and attending Jordan’s school, the Sacred Heart School in East Forks, in United States’ Minnesota.

“Testosterone is the natural steroid hormone that enhances sport, athletic and fitness test performance. In general, people with smaller digit ratios are better athletes,” said Tomkinson. The duo mentioned that the adolescent boys with lower digit ratios did indeed show a better handgrip strength, irrespective of their age or body size.

Tomkinson concluded, “Given that muscular strength is an important determinant of success in many youth sports and athletic events, our finding suggests that the digit ratio may predict performance in youth sports and athletic events requiring high strength.”

Detailed results were published in the Early Human Development journal.

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