The Pronator Teres Syndrome: Compressive Neuropathy
;ry " he tO Copyright1981 by The Journalof Boneand Joint Surgery, Incorporated hy ar- The Pronator Teres Syndrome: ior tal Compressive Neuropathy of the Median Nerve* .~nt dl, BY CHARLES R. HARTZ, M.D.’~, RONALD L. LINSCHEID, M.D.’~, R. REED GRAMSE, M.D.’~, AND JASPER R. DAUBE, M.D.J’, ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA ior in From the Departments of Orthopedics, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Neurology, MayoClinic and MayoFoundation, Rochester at- ~re ABSTRACT:Thirty-nine patients with a clinical gically g, an anomalous fibrous band that compressed the the diagnosis of the pronator teres syndrome were seen median nerve was identified and cut. Since then, the syn- during a seven-year period. They typically complained drome has been recognized with increasing frequen- FIS, of aching discomfort in the forearm, weakness in the cy2,’,’,9,1e, ¯ it hand, and numbness in the thumb and index finger. We are reporting a study of thirty-nine patients in as Cyclic stress usually brought on the symptoms. The whomwe diagnosed the pronator teres syndrome and at- the distinctive physical finding was tenderness overthe tempted to identify the factors by which one can differ- ’ tO proximal part of the pronator teres, which was aggra- entiate this disorder from other lesions. SO vated by resisted pronation of the forearm, flexion of To the elbow, and occasionally by resisted contraction of Clinical Material ~al- the flexor superficialis of the long finger..Elec- From 1972 to 1979, thirty-nine patients seen at the der trophysiological testing of the median nerve showed Mayo Clinic were diagnosed as having the pronator teres caft abnormalities in a few patients, but localization of the syndrome.
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