Carpal tunnel is the signature cumulative trauma claim — no accident, no fall, just months or years of keystrokes, scanning, or vibrating tools until the median nerve objects. It is also a body part where the occupational variant pays attention at both ends of the demand scale: the gripping trades rate highest, and the keyboard jobs out-rate the custodial middle. This page computes the whole grid with the rating engine.
How carpal tunnel is measured
The schedule rates it as 16.01.02.02 — entrapment/compression neuropathy of the arm. Rough anchors from the AMA Guides: a released carpal tunnel with a clean result commonly lands at 0–5% WPI; residual numbness, weakness, or positive electrodiagnostics after surgery pushes toward the high single digits; severe unreleased or failed-release cases with measurable motor loss reach the teens. Grip-strength and sensory deficits, where separately ratable, are their own line items.
The money table
Final PD and total indemnity at age 37–41 (the neutral bracket), 2026 injury, maximum PD rate, one hand, before apportionment:
| WPI | Clerical · 111 | Custodian · 340 | Carpenter · 380 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2% | 4% · $3,480 | 3% · $2,610 | 6% · $5,220 |
| 5% | 8% · $6,960 | 7% · $6,090 | 12% · $11,092.50 |
| 8% | 13% · $12,252.50 | 11% · $9,932.50 | 18% · $18,995 |
| 10% | 16% · $16,095 | 14% · $13,412.50 | 22% · $24,795 |
| 15% | 23% · $26,245 | 21% · $23,345 | 31% · $40,020 |
Read the shape: the carpenter’s column (variant J, the schedule’s ceiling) roughly doubles the custodian’s at 8% WPI, because gripping tools is exactly what a compressed median nerve takes away. And clerical (variant G) beats the custodial middle in every row — keyboard hands are clerical earning capacity, the same logic as the wrist page.
Bilateral claims — the CVC, not addition
Carpal tunnel arrives in pairs more than any other injury. Each hand rates separately, then the two combine on the Combined Values Chart: the clerical worker at 8% WPI each hand holds two 13% ratings, and 13 C 13 = 24% PD — 95.5 weeks, $27,695 at the 2026 maximum. Not 26%: the chart discounts the second impairment against the remainder of the first. Still nearly $15,500 more than one hand alone, which is why pleading and proving the second hand matters.
The cumulative-trauma wrinkles
CT claims run on their own clock. The date of injury is not the last day typed — Labor Code §5412 sets it where disability and knowledge of work-causation converge, which decides the rate year, the era rules, and the limitations math (run the clocks on the deadline calculator). Expect a §4663 apportionment fight: diabetes, thyroid disease, inflammatory arthritis, and prior non-industrial hand history are the standard levers to shave the industrial share — how apportionment works shows the arithmetic. And claims filed after separation meet the post-termination defense (§3600(a)(10)), which has its own exceptions for CT dates.
Age moves it too
Same 8% WPI clerical case at three ages, engine-computed: injured at 25 it rates 11% ($9,932.50); at 39, 13% ($12,252.50); at 49, 15% ($14,645) — the age adjustment working as designed.
What this table can’t tell you
Wages below the maximum scale the dollars down, residual grip and sensory findings add lines to the string, settlements price future medical — CT cases often carry surgical and re-release exposure — and none of this is apportioned until a doctor writes the percentage. Companion pages: back · knee · shoulder · neck · hip · wrist · ankle · elbow · foot · hand · hearing · eye · amputation · fusion · knee replacement · rotator cuff. Estimates for informational use; not legal or medical advice.
Rate your carpal tunnel right here
Same engine as the tables above — pick your occupation and age, slide the WPI from the report, and carry it into the full calculator when you’re ready.