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I had a fitness test at my doctor's office. They used a test of my grip strength to determine my overall strength. Is this an adequate test? I don't see how my grip strength tells anything about how strong my arms are.

Studies dating back to the early 1950s show a link between grip strength and overall arm strength. For most people handgrip strength shows a moderate correlation with the total
strength of many other muscles of the body. If the grip is strong, the shoulders are also strong.

Handgrip strength is used as a measure of overall strength for several other reasons. It's safe and easy to measure using a handheld device called a dynamometer. This device is readily available in many health care, school, and gym settings. This makes strength testing using a grip test convenient.

Reference: 

Jeffrey E. Budoff, MD. The Prevalence of Rotator Cuff Weakness in Patients with Injured Hands. In The Journal of Hand Surgery. November 2004. Vol. 29A. No. 6. Pp. 1154-1159.

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