Development of a physical examination for a company-based management program for work-related upper extremity cumulative trauma disorders

The purpose of this project was to develop a streamlined upper extremity ex amination to be used in a company-based upper extremity CTD management prog ram. Thirty-six symptomatic employees were examined by an occupational heal th nurse and categorized into those requiring further medical evaluation or those appropriate for conservative management. Backward logistic regressio n showed that the Appearance and Symmetry (AS) and the Neurological and Spe cial Tests (NST) sections of the examination together explained 86.1 % (p = 0.002) of the nurses categorical decisions. Based on these preliminary dev elopment data, a short screening examination was proposed.