HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE
In 1915, German physiologist Paul Hoffman
(1884–1962) described a sensation of “tingling” or
“pins and needles” that could be elicited whenever an
injured nerve was percussed. According to Hoffman,
this “distal tingling on percussion” was a sign of nerve
regeneration. Later in 1915, Jules Tinel (1879–1952), a
French neurologist, described a “tingling sensation” or
“formication sign” produced by slight percussion of a
nerve trunk some time after an injury. Tinel attributed
the tingling to the presence of young axons in the
process of growing, thereby validating Hoffman’s
interpretation of the sign. Although Hoffman first
described the symptom, the tingling has been largely
recognized as Tinel’s sign.