Diagnosis from functional perspectives: usefulness of a manual tactile test for predicting precision pinch performance and disease severity in subjects with carpal tunnel syndrome.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate how the severity levels revealed in a nerve conduction study (NCS) affect the results of the Manual Tactile Test (MTT) for patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), and to examine the relationships between the results of the MTT and precision pinch performance.

DESIGN

Case-control studies.

SETTING

Hospital and local community.

PARTICIPANTS

Patients with CTS (N=70) with 119 affected hands were studied. A control group matched by age, sex, and hand dominance was also recruited.

INTERVENTION

Not applicable.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

CTS severity was determined based on NCS findings. The MTT, traditional sensory tests, and precision pinch performance were used to examine the functional sensory status of the hand from different perspectives.

RESULTS

The patients with CTS exhibited deterioration in all of the sensibility tests (P<.001). The results showed that the MTT could classify subgroups of severity in CTS (P<.001). A moderate correlation was found between the results of the MTT and precision pinch performance (r=.526-.585, P<.001). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the MTT results were useful indicators for predicting precision pinch performance and differentiating severity in subjects with CTS (r(2)=.376 and .323, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate that the MTT could be a valid and useful assessment for hand sensibility and prehensile pinch performance in patients with CTS.