As a patient with symptoms of hand and arm pain, numbness and tingling, and muscle weakness, you should expect to get the same exam and diagnosis no matter what physician examines you. That's the reason the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) published these guidelines for the diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).

Some new and important discoveries are being made about low back pain. For example, it used to be said over and over that eight out of 10 people would suffer a bout of back pain at least once in their lifetime. That's still true. But the next part of the story may not be so true.

If you are over 65 years old and you break your wrist in Great Falls, Montana, will you get the same treatment as if you are over 65 and the injury occurs in California or Florida or Colorado? Researchers from Dartmouth Medical Center noticed that there aren't a lot of studies on the optimal treatment for distal radial fractures. So, they used Medicare records to answer a few questions about the current state of affairs.

People in pain don't want a trial-and-error approach to treatment. They need an evidence-based treatment plan that is going to work right from the start. One way to achieve this is by identifying subtypes of pain -- in other words, what's nerve-related (neuropathic) and what's not? No sense treating pain with an approach that doesn't even get at the underlying pain mechanisms. We know that can be a waste of time and money.

If you have painful knee arthritis, exercising the knee may be the last thing on your To Do list. But studies like this one show that knee flexion and extension exercises do help. They improve strength and help your knee respond quickly to any change in position. The result can be less stiffness, faster walking speed, and a lower risk for falling. If you are a young athlete, that may not sound very important. But if you are an older adult, these benefits may grab your attention.

A common problem affecting the wrist called de Quervain's tenosynovitis causes pain on the inside of the wrist and forearm just above the thumb. Dr. A.M. Ilyas from the Temple Hand Center in Philadelphia uses this case report to bring us up-to-date on the evidence on how to treat this problem.

In this article, hand surgeons from the Philadelphia Hand Center at Jefferson University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) review injuries that cause forearm instability. They present normal anatomy and biomechanics of the forearm affected by these injuries and discuss treatment for forearm instability.

What surgeons consider a complication of surgery and what patients view as a complication are often very different. And since differing opinions can lead to unrealistic patient expectations, there's a need to clear this misunderstanding up right from the start. The authors of this article hope to lend a hand with that task.

Tennis elbow has been around for a long time -- and not just in tennis players. The typical patient with chronic tennis elbow is between 30 and 60 (most often around 50 years old) and involved in heavy lifting or repetitive work. The dominant arm is usually the painful one and it's been going on for months without relief. That's true even for the folks who get some kind of treatment for the problem.

Many people engaged in repetitive tasks such as supermarket cashiers, assembly-line workers, and workers in the food or meat packing industry develop work-related upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders (UEMS). Symptoms include shoulder, elbow wrist, and/or hand pain and dysfunction. The natural history or clinical course (what is likely to happen) for UEMS is unknown. Giving a patient an idea of a prognosis is difficult.

Piriformis syndrome: what is it? How do you get it? How do you know you have it? How do you get rid of it? What else do you need to know? That's the substance of this review article written by two well-known and well-respected physical therapists on the subject of piriformis syndrome.

No matter how you slice it, hand injuries from electric saws are expensive and devastating. Table saws, electric band saws, and hand-held electric saws are involved in thousands of hand injuries every year. People of all ages from young to old are affected.

In this study from the Mayo Clinic, the cost of these injuries is calculated in terms of dollars and cents. Lost wages, physician charges, emergency room treatments, rehab, and hospitalization costs are some of the major costs incurred.

For over 30 years now, doctors have used spinal cord stimulation (SCS), also called neurostimulation, to help relieve chronic neuropathic (nerve) pain. A stimulator is implanted into the patient's body, which then sends out impulses to interrupt the pain signals and prevent them from reaching the brain.

Circus performers have wow'ed audiences for years with flying trapeze artists, elephant tricks, lion tamers, and clown acts. But the circus has taken on a distinct difference in the last 25 years with the athletic gymnastics routines performed by modern circus artists without animals. Cirque du Soleil is a large circus company of this type entertaining audiences around the world.

Fractures of the upper cervical spine (C1-C2) can be stabilized without surgery by using a special apparatus called a halo vest. The vest is made of durable plastic that fits over the chest with a supportive collar around the neck. Four long, vertical metal rods attach the vest to a crown around the entire head. Metal screws hold the halo portion to the skull.