The relationship between hand volume/body length and hand volume/hand length ratios and severity of carpal tunnel syndrome

Abstract

Background & Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) would be more severe in individuals with shorter body length and short but more voluminous hands.

Methods: This study was conducted between December 2024 and February 2025, and a total of 126 patients with CTS and 59 non-CTS individuals were enrolled. CTS patients were further categorized into mild, moderate, and severe subgroups. Demographic characteristics, hand volumes, various hand anthropometric measurements, and derived measurement ratios were recorded for statistical analysis.

Results: Compared to the control group, the patient group exhibited significantly higher mean hand volume/hand length ratio, and hand volume/body length ratio (P <0.001), whereas the median hand length was lower (P =0.028). Significant differences among the four groups were also observed in the mean hand volume/hand length ratio, and hand volume/body length ratio (P <0.001 and P =0.002). The severity of CTS was negatively correlated with body length (rho =-0.153, P =0.037) but showed positive correlations with hand volume/body length ratio (rho =0.287, P <0.001), and hand volume/ hand length ratio (rho =0.278, P <0.001). The areas under the ROC curves were 0.679 (95% CI, 0.595-0.763) for the hand volume/hand length ratio and 0.654 (95% CI, 0.568-0.739) for the hand volume/body length ratio.

Conclusions: CTS manifests more severely in patients with shorter body lengths and hands that are short yet relatively voluminous. Hand volume/body length and hand volume/hand length ratios may be predictive of CTS.