Table 4 Level of reporting of instrument, method of assessment and reference to literature for standardised clinical measures (numbers in bold indicate number of studies, square bracketed numbers refer to study number in reference list),
Outcome categories and instruments | Â | Instrument named/described | Method of administration described | Cited reference on psychometric properties/protocol | Assessed but no details given | Total number of studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Grip strength | Dynamometer (Jamar, Baseline, NK or B&L) vigorimeter | 15 [16–20,24,26–28,31,30–35,37–38] | 2 [19, 38] | 2 [19,33] | 4 [15,21,25,36] | 19 |
Pinch strength |  | 11 [16–20,26–28,31,33,38] | 2 [19, 38] | 1 [33] | 3 [15, 25,36] | 14 |
Manual muscle testing of thenar muscles (MRC, AOA scale) |  | n/a | 6 [15–17, 25, 28, 31] | 3 [15, 23, 28] | 2 [29, 32] | 10 |
Range of motion | goniometry | 1 [38] | 2 [21, 31] | 1 [31] | 0 | 3 |
Sensibility | Touch threshold (SWMT or PSSD) | 9 [15–17, 19, 25,26, 28, 30, 33] | 1 [19] | 4 [15,17,19,33] | 0 | 9 |
|  | 2 – point discrimination | 4 [15, 17, 19, 31] | 1 [19] | 4 [15, 17, 19, 31] | 7 [14, 22, 23, 25, 28, 30, 36] | 11 |
| Â | vibration | 3 [15,19] | 1 [19] | 2 [13, 15] | 0 | 3 |
Hand dexterity (Jebsen-Taylor test, Purdue and 9-hole peg test) | Â | 3 [28,31,38] | 0 | 2 [28, 38] | 0 | 3 |
Pain Questionnaires (McGill) | Â | 1 [33] | n/a | 1 [33] | 0 | 1 |
Symptom Severity Scale (BCTQ |  | 8 [27, 28,30, 33, 34, 38–40] | n/a | 8 [27, 28,30, 33, 34, 38–40] | 0 | 8 |
Functional Status Scale (BCTQ) |  | 7 [27, 28,30, 34, 38–40] | n/a | 7 [27, 28,30, 34, 38–40] | 0 |  |