Measuring symptoms and disability in hand/wrist disorders.

In order to be eligible to participate in this study (part I, II and III), a subject must meet all of the following criteria:

- Aged 18 years or over.

- Complaints of hand, wrist and/or forearm, classified as either specific or nonspecific complaints of the arm, neck and/or shoulder (CANS), which might have a direct influence on hand or wrist function (in practice all complaints located from the elbow towards the fingers).

Extra for assessing responsiveness in part I:

- Receiving hand therapy for these complaints at the outpatient clinic of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of the University Medical Center Groningen, for a duration of at least four weeks.

Extra for the functional capacity evaluation study (part II):

- Meeting the criteria of the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q). If question 5 (‘Do you have a bone or joint problem that could be made worse by a change in your physical activity’) is solely answered with ‘yes’ because of those complaints of hand, wrist and/or forearm for which the patient visited the outpatient clinic of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of the University Medical Center Groningen, we consider the criteria of the PAR-Q are still being met.

A potential subject who meets any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation in this study (parts I, II and III):

- Insufficient understanding of Dutch to fill out questionnaires.

- Other medical condition(s) causing considerate disability, such as neurological disorders (e.g. stroke, peripheral nerve damage) or joint diseases (e.g. osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis).



Extra for part III:

- Presence of contraindications for cardiopulmonary exercise testing. This is checked using usual clinical criteria, based on the ATS/ACCP Statement on cardiopulmonary exercise testing.