Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/umls/id/C0151037
AIR: WHAT: Phalen's maneuver. Phalen's Maneuver: a clinical procedure in which flexion of the wrist compresses the median nerve, resulting in numbness and paresthesia of the fingers. WHY: If positive, Phalen's maneuver helps establish the diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome. HOW: Phalen's maneuver is performed by having the patient hold the forearms vertically and then let both hands drop into complete flexion at the wrist for thirty to sixty seconds. The test is positive when numbness and paresthesia in the median-nerve distribution in the hand (i.e., thumb, index finger, middle finger, and lateral half of the palm) are produced or exaggerated. The test will not be positive and therefore is unreliable if there already exists an advanced degree of sensory loss in the hand. REFS: Phalen, GS: The carpal tunnel syndrome: Seventeen years' experience in diagnosis and treatment of 654 hands. J Bone Joint Surg 48A:211, 1966.