Another Cause of Occupational Entrapment Neuropathy: La Main Du Cuisinier (The Chef’s Hand)

Abstract

Recent studies have raised the possibility of a predisposition to mononeuropathies in a number of professions including musicians, cleaners, and industrial workers. There are, however, no previous reports of increased rates of mononeuropathies in the culinary arts. The authors report three cases of mononeuropathies occurring in professional chefs that presented over a 3-month period in the same outpatient clinic, with a case each of distal ulnar neuropathy, distal median motor neuropathy (thenar motor syndrome) and posterior interosseous neuropathy. There was no history of direct hand trauma in any of the patients. In all three patients, the injuries occurred exclusively in the dominant hand, further strengthening the argument for an occupational link.