Clinical test · Hand

Tinel's sign

A percussion test for an irritated nerve. Lightly tapping over a nerve where it runs close to the surface provokes an electric, tingling sensation that shoots into the area that nerve supplies — which both flags the irritation and localises it to a specific point along the nerve. It is most familiar at the carpal tunnel (median nerve) and the cubital tunnel at the inside of the elbow (ulnar nerve), but the principle applies wherever a superficial nerve can be tapped.