Carpal tunnel syndrome: classic clinical symptoms and electrodiagnostic studies in poultry workers with hand, wrist, and forearm pain.

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) has been linked to repetitive motion only in the past 15 years or so. Often the studies supporting this proposed link have not used strict clinical criteria and have rarely had electrodiagnostic confirmation of the diagnosis. In order to better assess the actual incidence of CTS in patients in a repetitive-motion job who had pain, numbness, tingling, or all three in the hand, wrist, or forearm, we examined 112 consecutive charts of such patients referred to a consulting neurologist for a possible diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome. Thirty-five percent of those patients had either classic clinical symptoms or positive electrodiagnostic results, but only half of these (17% of the total) actually had both. It is thus suggested that the incidence of CTS in patients doing repetitive motion may have been overestimated in the literature, and very strict clinical and electrodiagnostic criteria should be used before a diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome is made or surgery is contemplated in these patients.