Effects of wrist extension on median nerve and flexor tendon excursions in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome: a case control study

Table 3 Comparison of gliding of the median nerve and flexor digitorium superficialis tendon between patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and healthy volunteers, while performing flexion and extension movements of index finger at a speed of one cycle per second

Variables	CTS hands (n = 79)	Healthy hands (n = 88)	p- value^b
Variables	Mean±SD	Mean±SD	p- value^b
Median nerve excursion (mm)
Wrist in neutral position	18.5±7.0	23.7±9.1	0.0001
Wrist in extended position	21.3±10.6	25.6±10.3	0.02
p- value^a	0.004	0.017
Flexor tendon excursion (mm)
Wrist in neutral position	99.1±30.7	89.7±29.1	0.11
Wrist in extended position	109.0±34.2	96.4±30.8	0.05
p- value^a	0.047	0.213
Ratio of median nerve/flexor tendon excursion
Wrist in neutral position	0.20±0.11	0.29±0.15	0.0008
Wrist in extended position	0.21±0.11	0.29±0.14	0.005
p- value^a	0.728	0.909

^acomparison between wrist at neutral and extended positions (Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test)
^bcomparison between CTS patients and healthy volunteers after adjusting for age and gender (generalized estimating equation)

ISSN: 1471-2474