In today’s world, we are almost never out of touch.  The advent of the cell phone gave us the potential to be constantly available.  Email allows us to send and receive messages at all hours without disturbing the other party. The popularity of text messaging has added a new, perhaps even less intrusive, form of communication.  Although these advances have…

At a time when cost-effective, evidence-based care is increasingly demanded by patients, payers and our own professional organizations, research on outcomes of treatment has become more common. Over the past 10 years there has been a steady increase in the  levels of evidence reported in most of the journals read by hand surgeons. While this trend is encouraging in appearance,…

The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) has released a new Clinical Practice Guideline on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. This document replaces earlier ones on diagnosis, published in 2007, and treatment, which appeared in 2008. There was a widespread perception that the recommendations made in the previous guidelines were weak and did not contribute substantively to…