Peripheral Nerve Injuries

• Peripheral Nerve Injuries:

  • there will be a number of conditions that have a neural basis to them
  • can either be due to nerve trunks being compromised (e.g. in the carpal tunnel) or nerve root irritation in spine/neck causing symptoms within their hand
  • need to know nerve distributions
  • need to be clear on neurointegrity testing and peripheral nerve tests
• Peripheral Nerve Injuries - Peripheral Nerve Assessment:

  • motor testing
  • radial - wrist and finger extension, supination
  • median - wrist and finger flexion, pronation, thumb opposition
  • ulna - lumbricals and interossei
  • Quick tests to look out for neural compromised:
  • Apple/okay sign for Median nerve
  • Key pinch/Froments pinch grip for Ulna Nerve
  • Wrist extension for Radial Nerve
  • Nerve Palpation:
  • median - Tinnel's (carpal tunnel)
  • radial - snuff box + Lister's tubercle
  • ulna - anterior and distal to ulna styloid