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Hypermobility of the incudostapedial joint: A clinical entity?
Author(s) -
Miller Gale W.,
Keith Robert W.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1288/00005537-197912000-00007
Subject(s) - hypermobility (travel) , joint hypermobility , joint (building) , medicine , orthodontics , physical medicine and rehabilitation , psychology , anatomy , physical therapy , engineering , structural engineering
During exploratory tympanotomy for conductive deafness, the surgeon is occasionally perplexed to find no apparent cause for the air‐bone gap. This unexplained deafness has been called “inner ear conductive hearing loss” because of the apparent absence of pathology in the middle ear. The incudostapedial joint was studied in 68 vertically sectioned temporal bones and the anatomy is presented. Varying amounts of laxity is observed in the normal joint capsule at the time of surgery. A theory is suggested in which an elongated capsule allows incus motion without energy transmission to the stapes. It is proposed that hypermobility of the incudostapedial joint may exist and explain conductive hearing loss of undetermined etiology.