100 patients undergoing open carpal tunnel decompression were randomly assigned to receive an upper arm tourniquet or a forearm tourniquet during surgery. The purpose of the study was to compare patient-reported levels of intra-operative pain and surgeon-reported levels of bleeding and obstruction to determine if either tourniquet strategy was advantageous. The results indicated that both study groups yielded similar results for pain level, bleeding, heart rate and blood pressure throughout the procedure. However, use of a forearm tourniquet resulted in a higher incidence of obstruction.