Grip strength following carpal tunnel decompression.

To monitor the effect of open carpal tunnel decompression on grip strength in the hand, a prospective study was made of 25 patients undergoing a total of 31 operations. Hand grip, key pinch and pulp-to-pulp pinch strengths were measured pre-operatively and at regular intervals until 1 year following operation. At that time there was no significant difference in the hand grip and pulp-to-pulp pinch strengths compared to their pre-operative values, but the key pinch in females showed a marginally significant reduction (P = 0.04) compared to the pre-operative value.