Occupation and carpal tunnel syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common of all the so-called entrapment syndromes. It therefore features as a most important medical condition for which the underlying cause is unknown. In the USA, this condition is commonly regarded as work related, and as a condition, it results in a cost of medical expenditure alone of $US13 263 per employee so affected. The incidence in the United States of America is 99 out of 100 000 people. Four hundred and fifty thousand carpal tunnel releases are carried out annually in the USA, at a total cost of $2 BIL.(1) The condition gives rise to opinions that vary as to whether it is work related. In my practice now as a full-time medicolegal consultant, so many opinions are written that blandly put forward the statement that 'Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is work related' or 'Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is related to repetitive movement or hard physical labour'. These opinions, in my view, are not supported by current knowledge of carpal tunnel syndrome and it is for that reason that this study has been instituted.