Comparison of Surgical Treatment with Splinting in Treating Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome is the entrapment of median nerve in carpal tunnel، resulting in pain and numbness in hand and fingers. It is the most common cause of nerve entrapment in the upper limb. There are two main treatment protocoles: medical and surgical.

In a cohort study، in 220 patients with carpal tunnel syndromes، splinting was compared with sugery. During a 12 months period، symptoms relief and function improvement were evaluated، using the Levine questionnaire.

There was no difference between the two groups at the beginning. In the first and third months of follow-up the symptoms severity was lower in splint group but in the six and twelve month evaluation، the surgical group had less symptoms. Regarding functional improvement، the same results occurred with better results in one and three months for splint group and in six and twelve months for surgical group.

Although splinting for carpal tunnel syndrome had superior results in first two months، the improvement with surgery is better maintained into 6-12 months.