Term
| Apply mild to moderate compression to the medial and lateral aspects of the distal ends of the radius and ulna by encircling the wrist with your thumb and index finger. If this action causes pain = rheumatoid arthritis, fracture or severe sprain. |
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Definition
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Term
| Ask the patient to make a fist with the thumb inside the fingers of the affected hand. Bend the patient’s wrist in an ulnar direction. If this action causes pain over the abductor pollicis longus and extensor pollicis brevis = de Quervain’s tenosynovitis. |
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Definition
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Term
| Ask the patient to flex both wrists maximally and to press the dorsal aspects of the wrists together. Ask the patient to hold this position for at least 1 minute. If this action causes tingling and paresthesia to radiate into the thumb, index or middle fingers = carpal tunnel syndrome. |
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Definition
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Term
| Ask the seated patient to place both hands on the arms of a stable chair and push off to suspend the body using only the hands. If the pain in the wrist is reproduced while pressing up to support the patient’s body weight = triangular fibrocartilage complex tear. |
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Definition
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Term
| Ask the patient to extend both wrists maximally and to press the palmar aspects of the wrists together as if in an attitude of prayer. Instruct the patient to hold this position for at least 1 minute. If this action causes tingling and paresthesia to radiate into the thumb, index or middle fingers = carpal tunnel syndrome. |
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Definition
Reverse Phalen
[Prayer Sign] |
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Term
| Percuss the middle of the wrist just beyond the distal skin crease at the wrist [for the median nerve] or over the pisiform bone [for the ulnar nerve]. If this action causes tingling and paresthesia distal to the point of percussion = carpal tunnel syndrome [median nerve] or ulnar nerve entrapment in Guyon’s canal. |
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Definition
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Term
| Compress the region of the palm of the wrist just distal to the distal skin crease with both thumbs in an anteroposterior direction. Gentle sustained pressure with the thumbs for 15 seconds to 2 minutes is maintained. If this action causes tingling and paresthesia to radiate into the thumb, index and ring fingers = carpal tunnel syndrome. |
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Definition
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