In medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

, Hoffmann's sign, named after the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 physiologist, Paul Hoffmann

Paul Hoffmann

Paul Jacob Christopher Hoffmann born 14 January 1970, Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia, is an Australian cricketer who has played for the cricket teams of Scotland...

 (1884–1962, physiologist in Freiburg) is a distal sign of nerve regeneration.

Definition

A tingling sign is a sensation triggered by a mechanical stimulus in the distal part of an injured nerve. This sensation radiates peripherally, from the point where it is triggered to the cutaneous distribution of the nerve. The tingling response can be compared with that produced by a weak electric current, as in transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). This unpleasant sensation is not a severe pain and does not persist.

History

In March 1915, Paul Hoffmann described the distal regeneration sign then baptised: Hoffmann's sign.
In October 1915, Jules Tinel described the same phenomenon in French "le signe de fourmillement": Tinel's sign

Tinel's sign

Tinel's sign is a way to detect irritated nerves. It is performed by lightly tapping over the nerve to elicit a sensation of tingling or "pins and needles" in the distribution of the nerve.It takes its name from French neurologist Jules Tinel .For example, in carpal tunnel syndrome where the...

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In fact, the first to have described, in 1907, this phenomenon of sensory recovery were the British surgeons: Wilfred Trotter & H. Morriston Davies.