Investigation of the relationship between morphometric characteristics of the hand and body mass index and somatotype in the occurrence of carpal tunnel syndrome

This study aims to investigate the relationship between morphometric characteristics of the hand, body mass index (BMI) and somatotype in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS). The study was conducted with a study group consisting of individuals who applied to the Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Orthopaedics and Traumatology, and Neurology clinics of Adıyaman Gölbaşı State Hospital with CTS symptoms. The results include the distribution of clinical parameters associated with the disease between the CTS-positive patient and CTS-negative control groups and examination of somatotype. Significant differences were found between the groups in analyses related to physical measurements such as hand grip strength, finger grip strength, wrist width and depth. In addition, significant differences were also observed between scores such as cane symptom severity score, cane functional status scale, Dash symptom score and Duruoz hand index total score. No significant difference was detected in the analyzes examining the distribution of somatotype between groups. These findings emphasise that physical measurements and clinical parameters should be taken into account to determine the factors that may be effective in the development of CTS and to evaluate the disease. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies are also discussed. Keywords: Carpal tunnel syndrome; Somatotype; Dash symptom score; Duruoz hand index.