The nerve conduction studies indicated that the compression site was at the elbow joint.
The clinical findings are not consistent with carpal tunnel syndrome. The clinician should have been alerted to this problem given that the patient experienced numbness over the thenar eminence of the hand. This clue indicates an understanding of the anatomy. Compression of the nerve within the carpal tunnel does not produce this numbness, because the small cutaneous branch that supplies this region is proximal to the flexor retinaculum.