Abstract

The author studied 20 healthy adults (20 hands) as a control and 30 patients (40 hands) with carpal tunnel syndrome to evaluate the clinical usefulness of measuring nerve conduction velocity after wrist flexion in diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome. The median nerve conduction velocity over wrist to finger segment was measured before and after wrist flexion for 1, 2 and 5 minutes, using belly-tendon method for motor nerve distal latency (MNDL) and antidromic method for sensory nerve conduction velocity (SNCV). The results were as follows: 1. In control group, MNDL increased in 1 hand and SNCV decreased in 2 hands after wrist flexion. In patient group, MNDL increased in 2 hands and SNCV decreased in 3 hands after wrist flexion. 2. In both control and patient group, there were no significant changes in mean values of SNCV and MNDL between before and after wrist flexion. 3. Phalen's wrist flexion test was positive in 5 percent of control and 60 percent of patient group. 4. Tinel's sign was present in 10 percent of control and 33 percent of patient group.

• Keywords: Carpal tunnel syndrome;Nerve conduction and wrist flexion;