Podcast 583:  Raise Your Hands if You Have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome   

<p><strong>Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD</strong></p> <p><strong>Educational Pearls:</strong></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hand raising test: a simple but effective tool to diagnose carpal tunnel </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Patients hold their hands over their head and if symptoms of carpal tunnel develop within 2 minutes, it is considered positive, meaning they likely have carpel tunnel</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Symptom included numbness and dull pain in the distribution of the median nerve</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Treatment for carpal tunnel in the ED can include splinting in a neutral position and oral steroids with possible follow up for steroid injections or surgery</span></li> </ul> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Padua L, Coraci D, Erra C, et al.</span> <a href= "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27751557/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Carpal tunnel syndrome: clinical features, diagnosis, and management.</span></a> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Lancet Neurol</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">. 2016;15(12):1273-1284. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(16)30231-9</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ma H, Kim I.</span> <a href= "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3539082/#:~:text=The%20order%20was%20hand%20elevation,in%20the%20median%20nerve%20territory."> <span style="font-weight: 400;">The diagnostic assessment of hand elevation test in carpal tunnel syndrome</span></a><span style= "font-weight: 400;">.</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">J Korean Neurosurg Soc</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">. 2012;52(5):472-475. doi:10.3340/jkns.2012.52.5.472</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Summarized by Jackson Roos, MS4 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD</span></em></p> <p><br /> <br /></p>