Nerve	Characteristics	Sensory deficits	Motor deficits	Conservative therapy	Surgical indications
Axillary nerve	Lateral shoulder region paresthesia, shoulder movement weakness in all planes, difficulty with overhead activities	Lateral shoulder	Deltoid, teres minor	Physical therapy, monitoring recovery with serial examination vs. electromyography and nerve conduction studies	No electrophysiologic improvement after 3 to 4 months of conservative treatment
Long thoracic nerve	Scapular winging	None	Serratus anterior	Physical therapy, avoidance of aggravating activities	Penetrating trauma resulting in nerve transection, no improvement after 18 to 24 months of conservative treatment
Median nerve at the elbow or forearm anterior interosseous nerve branch	No pain; thumb weakness; unable to make OK sign; if patient is unable to make OK sign but has sensory deficits, consider a proximal median nerve injury	None	Flexor pollicis longus, flexor digitorum profundus	Rest, splinting, and observation	Space-occupying lesion, no improvement after 3 to 4 months of conservative treatment
Median nerve at the elbow (pronator syndrome)	Aching pain in the proximal volar forearm; palm, thumb, or index finger paresthesia	Thumb, index and middle fingers, and radial side of ring finger	Varied but may include weakened grip strength	Avoidance of aggravating activities, rest, trial of NSAIDs, steroid injection	Space-occupying lesion, no improvement after 3 to 4 months of conservative treatment
Median nerve at the wrist (carpal tunnel syndrome)	Pain in the wrist and hand, occasionally radiating to the forearm; paresthesia in the first three digits; weak grip strength due to weakness of thumb abduction and opposition resulting in difficulty with tasks such as opening doors; thenar eminence atrophy in advanced disease	Thumb, index and middle fingers, and radial side of ring finger	Abductor pollicis brevis, first or second lumbrical	Splinting, physical therapy, yoga, and acupuncture for the short term Cochrane review: nocturnal splinting more effective than placebo13 Maximal benefit of conservative treatment typically achieved around 3 months Steroid injection Cochrane review: symptomatic improvement for up to one month with steroid injection; more recent studies show up to 10 weeks of improvement and delay of surgery for up to 1 year14	Early surgery: evidence of moderate to severe median nerve damage on electromyography Significant weakness of grip strength; thenar eminence atrophy; no improvement after 3 to 4 months of conservative treatment Cochrane review: surgical decompression is better at long-term symptom management than splinting alone; unclear if surgery is better than steroid injection, especially in those with mild symptoms15 Cochrane review: endoscopic and open techniques are equally effective; however, endoscopic recovery is shorter by 8 days16
Radial nerve at the elbow (posterior interosseous nerve)	Weakness in finger extension, weakness of ulnar deviation, wrist extension can be maintained (because of sparing of extensor carpi radialis longus), pain is rare	None	Extensor carpi radialis brevis, extensor digitorum, extensor digiti minimi, extensor carpi ulnaris, abductor pollicis longus, extensor pollicis brevis, extensor pollicis longus, extensor indicis, supinator	Rest, activity modification, splinting, stretching, NSAIDs; steroid injection can be therapeutic and diagnostic	Significant motor weakness is present, no improvement after 3 to 4 months of conservative treatment
Radial nerve at the elbow (superficial radial nerve)	Pain 3 cm to 4 cm distal to lateral epicondyle, often causes pain at night	Lateral forearm	None	Rest, activity modification, splinting, stretching, NSAIDs; steroid injection can be therapeutic and diagnostic	Surgery rarely required
Radial nerve at the spiral groove (radial neuropathy [Saturday night palsy])	Weakness in finger and wrist extension, paresthesia of forearm and hand	Posterior forearm and dorsal hand	Brachioradialis (elbow flexion); extensor carpi radialis longus; branches distally include superficial radial nerve and posterior interosseous nerve, which can also be affected	Avoidance of repeat compression, physical therapy nearly 100% effective at 6 months based on small observational study, cock-up splint for normal hand function	Fracture of the humerus resulting in nerve compromise
Radial nerve at the wrist (handcuff neuropathy)	Pain and paresthesia of the hand; if motor findings are present, consider a higher radial nerve lesion	Dorsal radial hand	None	Eliminate external compression, steroid injection	Surgery rarely required, no improvement after 3 to 4 months of conservative treatment
Spinal accessory nerve	Weakness in shoulder abduction (> 180 degrees), scapular winging	None	Trapezius (shoulder shrug) and sternocleidomastoid	Physical therapy, avoidance of aggravating activities	Penetrating trauma resulting in nerve transection, no improvement after 18 to 24 months of conservative treatment
Various nerves at brachial plexus level	Transient paresthesia and weakness from neck or shoulder traveling down the arm	Varied based on affected nerves	Varied based on affected nerves	Rest, physical therapy, pain control	Evidence of anatomic abnormalities (foraminal stenosis) predisposing to repeat injury
Suprascapular nerve	Weakness in shoulder flexion, abduction, external rotation	Sensory to shoulder joint	Supraspinatus (shoulder abduction) and infraspinatus (external rotation of the shoulder)	Physical therapy to maintain range of motion, activity modification to limit overhead activities	Early surgery for space-occupying lesion (i.e., ganglion cyst) Systematic review of 21 studies (275 athletes) showed lower patient-reported pain as tracked by visual analog scale and a return to sport of 92% of athletes17
Ulnar nerve at the elbow (cubital tunnel syndrome)	Pain, paresthesia, numbness in the fourth and fifth digits; weakness in finger abduction, thumb abduction, and thumb-index pincer; positive Tinel sign at the cubital tunnel; weak wrist flexion not due to the median nerve innervation of flexor carpi radialis and flexor digitorum superficialis, which compensate for loss of flexor carpi ulnaris	Hypothenar eminence, fifth finger, and ulnar side of fourth finger	Intrinsic hand muscles, flexor carpi ulnaris	Activity modification, NSAIDs, elbow pads, physical therapy, night splinting in 45 degrees of extension with neutral forearm, steroid injection	No improvement after 3 to 4 months of conservative treatment Most common procedures are surgical decompression or nerve transposition; in one Cochrane review they were equally effective18
Ulnar nerve at the wrist (cyclist's palsy)	Atrophy of intrinsic hand muscles (hypothenar, lumbrical, interosseous); pain, paresthesia, numbness of the hand; positive Froment sign (Figure 6; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnTVWnTFymA)	Hypothenar eminence, fifth finger, and ulnar side of fourth finger	Intrinsic hand muscles (grip strength)	Patient education, activity modification, padding on handlebars, splinting, physical therapy, and NSAIDs; steroid injection not indicated because causes are usually related to structural or mechanical abnormality; drain ganglion cyst if this is the cause	Management of anatomic cause (e.g., ganglion cyst, lipoma, hook of hamate fracture), no improvement after 2 to 4 months of conservative treatment Postsurgical splinting and rehabilitation recommended Typical return to work in 6 to 8 weeks