- Biomedical Research (2009) Volume 20, Issue 1

Manual Milking: A Risk Factor for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common entrapment syndrome. Occupations which include repetitive and forceful wrist and arm movement result with CTS. Our goal was to investigate the frequency of CTS among people who are manually milking their ani-mals. Methods: One hundred and sixty hands of 80 women dealing with manual milking (manual milking group) and 40 hands of 20 healthy unemployed women (control group) were clinically and electrophysiologically evaluated for CTS. Results: In manual milking group, CTS was clinically diagnosed in 66 of 160 hands (41.25%) by physical examination and was electrodiagnostically detected in 60 hands (37.5%). Two hands (5%) were diag-nosed as CTS clinically and electrodiagnostically in the control group. Clinically and elec-trodiagnostically estimated relative risks of developing CTS were respectively 13.34 and 11.40 times greater in manual milking group than controls. CTS frequency was increased with age, and correlated with starting age of milking. Conclusion: These results indicate that manual milking may be a risk factor for CTS development.

Author(s): Suleyman Kutluhan, Ahmet Tufekci, Serkan Kilbas, Nilgun Erten, Hasan Rifat Koyuncuoglu, Mustafa Ozturk

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