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Painful numb hands
Author(s) -
Simpson Marion A,
Day Bruce
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja11.10900
Subject(s) - carpal tunnel syndrome , medicine , median nerve , wrist , mononeuropathy , medical history , rheumatoid arthritis , carpal tunnel , physical examination , diabetes mellitus , surgery , physical therapy , peripheral neuropathy , endocrinology
Carpal tunnel syndrome, resulting from median nerve compression at the wrist, is a common and often disabling mononeuropathy. Risk factors include female sex, family history, repetitive hand use, obesity, pregnancy and a variety of medical comorbidities including diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis, and other connective tissue diseases. In many cases, an accurate diagnosis can be reached on the basis of clinical history and supportive examination findings alone. Neurophysiological investigations are essential for confirming the diagnosis, assessing severity and excluding more generalised neuropathies, as well as providing a baseline preoperative index of median nerve function. Wrist splinting and local corticosteroid injection are effective treatments in the short term, but long‐term data are lacking. Surgical (endoscopic or open) carpal tunnel release is effective and nearly always required to enable a return to work for patients with occupationally induced carpal tunnel syndrome.