Compression syndromes of individual peripheral nerves have been known since the middle of the last century. Paget (1853) is credited with the first report of carpal tunnel syndrome. Hunt (1908) was likely the first to draw attention to the compression of the median and ulnar nerves as possible causes of atrophy of the intrinsic hand muscles. A pseudoneuroma proximal to the transverse carpal ligament and a flattening of the median nerve beneath this structure were observed by Marie and Foix (1913) during an autopsy. These authors were probably the first to point out the possibility that the compression could be relieved by splitting the transverse carpal ligament. However, it took another 20 years before Learmonth successfully performed this operation in a 71-year-old patient in 1933. Compression injuries of the ulnar nerve as a result of an elbow joint fracture.