Preliminary uncontrolled data indicate that some physiotherapy interventions might be beneficial.
A group of researchers from Australia, the Netherlands and the UK recently collaborated on a randomised trial to test whether physiotherapy interventions could ease symptoms for people with carpal tunnel syndrome while they are on the waiting list for surgery.
The researchers enrolled 105 participants and randomly allocated 52 of them to receive a one-off group session of education, splinting, and nerve and tendon gliding exercises.
The splinting was worn at night on an ongoing basis and the exercises were continued as a home program. The remaining participants (the control group) continued on the waiting list with no additional care.
After 6 weeks, 20% of the treatment group but only 4% of the control group rated their condition as improved. The intervention was also estimated to be beneficial on some measures of satisfaction, symptom severity and functional limitation. By 24 weeks, 41% of people in the treatment group decided not to progress to surgey, compared to only 20% in the control group.
The authors recommend that clinicians discuss these results with each individual patient; whether they progress to surgery or not, patients may still feel that it is worth undertaking the exercises and splinting to get some reprieve from their symptoms.
> From: Lewis, J Physiother 66 (2020) (Epub ahead of print). All rights reserved to Australian Physiotherapy Association. Click here for the online summary.
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