Use of a wheel aesthesiometer for testing sensibility in the hand. Results in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Tests of spatial discrimination were performed on the hands of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome, before and after surgical decompression. Impairment of sensibility and its recovery after treatment were better demonstrated by a new instrument, the wheel aesthesiometer, than by the moving two-point discrimination test. The psychophysics of the new test and the nature of the sensory impairment in carpal tunnel syndrome are discussed.