The vibrometer

To evaluate the potential clinical value of the vibrometer in patients with peripheral nerve injury or compression, cutaneous vibratory thresholds were determined in 72 patients with 113 peripheral nerve problems. Testing with the vibrometer was quick, simple, and inexpensive. The test results, however, neither added new information nor improved information derived from evaluating sensibility with a tuning fork (vibratory stimulus) and a paper clip (innervation density). Following nerve repair, the vibratory threshold did not correlate with peripheral innervation density, and thus the vibrometer is not of prognostic value after neurorrhaphy. The vibrometer can provide quantitative sensory data useful in evaluating patients with bilateral peripheral nerve problems, thereby giving longitudinal data on nerve function in a research setting. This study confirmed the observation that the earliest clinical finding detectable with a tuning fork in peripheral nerve compression is a hypersensitive response to vibratory stimulation.