Marked Increase in \"Cumulative Trauma Disorders Throughout

¶ … marked increase in "cumulative trauma disorders throughout the United States" (Lalumandier and McPhee, 2001, p. 130). Moreover, the article explicitly denotes that of these types of disorders, there is a growing number of laborers who are experiencing carpal tunnel syndrome. In fact, this issue is highly prevalent among dental hygienists, and even represents a significant occupation hazard as such.

The abstract actually does highlight the research methodology that was deployed for this article. The principle aspect of this methodology was a survey of over 5,000 people who worked in the field of dentistry for the U.S. army. However, the research methodology is not elucidated in great detail in the abstract. The article could be improved by the authors explicating more of their methodology in this section. Instead of doing so, the authors allude to the results in part of the section in the abstract in which they should have focused more on the actual methods employed.

3. Although the literature review for this article is fairly brief -- the article itself is merely a few pages, which explains this fact) it is fairly comprehensive and certainly elucidates the bevy of research that has taken place on this subject previously. To maximize the value of this brief literature review, the authors utilized end notes which takes less space than conventional referencing and allows them to dedicate more room to the various concepts pertaining to this subject.

4. The sample is representative of the population of interest somewhat. The sample consisted of dental personnel who were employed in the U.S. army. The study, however, is not explicitly related to the army and would have benefited from some non-army sample populations as well. Also, there were individuals other than hygienists who were surveyed, which is not directly related to the experience of hygienists.

5. The variables under study were the different symptoms associated with carpal tunnel and carpal tunnel like conditions. Specifically, these included: "pain at night, tingling, decreased sensation or loss of feeling in fingers, frequent dropping of objects, sensation of "falling asleep" during normal activity, stiffness, loss of strength, and morning swelling" (Lalumandier and McPhee, 2001, p. 131). Those with four or more symptoms were considered as having carpal tunnel, those with three were probable. The various dental professionals (including secretaries, dental assistants, laboratory technician, dentist, receptionists, clerks, radiography technicians, dental hygienists and dental therapy assistants) were also variables.

6. The design of this research study is appropriate for the variables -- since dental employees were asked to fill out a survey in which they indicated which of the aforementioned symptoms they had. Additionally, the researchers performed a PC-SAS bivariate and multivariate analysis for the raw data to convert them into statistically verifiable results.