Abstract
Objective
To systematically review the association between ulnar nerve hypermobility (UNH) at
the elbow and ulnar neuropathy (UNE).
Data Sources
Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health, MEDLINE, and Embase databases were
searched for English language studies published up to July 4, 2020.
Study Selection
We included case-control, cohort, and randomized controlled studies that established
the presence or absence of UNH and UNE. Twenty out of 654 studies identified met the
inclusion criteria.
Data Extraction
Two reviewers independently extracted data for analysis. Risk of bias and applicability
were assessed with the QUADAS-2 tool.
Data Synthesis
We compared rates of UNH between patients diagnosed with and without UNE and found
no significant difference. The meta-analysis pooled rate of UNH was 0.37 (95% confidence
interval, 0.20-0.57) for those without UNE and 0.33 (95% confidence interval, 0.23-0.45)
for those with UNE.
Conclusions
The clinical finding of UNH is unhelpful when assessing for UNE, as the presence of
UNH does not make the diagnosis of UNE more likely.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
CI (confidence interval), CSA (cross-sectional area), UND (ulnar nerve dislocation), UNE (ulnar neuropathy at the elbow), UNH (ulnar nerve hypermobility), UNS (ulnar nerve subluxation)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 11, 2021
Accepted:
February 18,
2021
Received in revised form:
February 15,
2021
Received:
November 5,
2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
