Hand-arm vibration syndrome. A double-blind case-control study with a new esthesiometer

This double-blind case-control study on hand-arm vibration syndrome was sponsored by the Society of Occupation Medicine Golden Jubilee Travelling Scholarship Committee in 1987. It involved collaborative work between the author and the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland. The procedure consisted of administration of a questionnaire, clinical examination of subjects in the study group and depth-sense esthesiometry for all subjects including the controls. Of 34 subjects admitted to the study, 14 out of 15 patients were positively diagnosed as suffering from the syndrome and one out of 19 in the control group had a false positive result. The study showed that the new esthesiometer, although not totally objective, could be regarded as an effective tool for the diagnosis of hand-arm vibration syndrome in clinical and field studies.