Is the right hand generally stronger than the left in right-handed people? you can crudely measure hand strength by placing a bathroom scale on a shelf with the end protruding, then squeezing the scale between the thumb below and the four fingers above it. the reading of the scale shows the force exerted. researchers randomly selected 10 right-handed people and measured their hand strength for both the right and left and using this method. for each individual, they tossed a coin to determine which hand would be measured first.