Physical Exam in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

A 45-year-old woman who works as a professional baker with a specialty in birthday and wedding cakes presents with a six-month history of progressive numbness and tingling in the thumb, index, and middle fingers of her right hand. She noticed that her symptoms are worse at night and are accompanied by hand weakness and reports being right hand dominant. She denies any injury to the area and states "This is getting in the way of my work. I'm having a much harder time holding the tools that I need to use to decorate a cake." Her concurrent health history includes a five-year history of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, obesity with a BMI of 38. Her current meds include Metformin and an SGLT2I, and ARB with a thiazide diuretic and a statin. 

When considering the diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome, which of the following would be one of the earliest physical exam findings?

A. Pain reproduced with forced wrist flexion held for 60 seconds

B. Diminished radial pulse

C. thenar atrophy

D. tingling of the fingers when tapping on the median nerve

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