• ABSTRACT
    • In a claw hand by ulnar and median nerve palsy if the digits are stabilized in order to prevent overextension of the metacarpophalangeal joints, the long extensor alone can fully extend all phalanges. Based on the proximal interphalangeal stiffness evaluated by this test (in more than 200 claw hands I have had the opportunity to operate in over 20 years), I would like to propose a simple therapeutic plan for palliative surgery. Some have recognized Beevor as the author of this test in 1903, but, it seems as though it was Bouvier who first described it in 1851. In any case, rather than using a name, why not just call it "the metacarpophalangeal stabilization test"?