Treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome with ekstrakorporeal shockwave therapy: A sham-controlled double blinded randomised study

Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) with ESWT: A Sham-Controlled Double Blinded Randomised Study The aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency of extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) in the treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) as randomized, prospective, controlled and double blind. 49 hand with the diagnosis of CTS were included in the study. Patients were randomised in ESWT (n=29 hands) and sham (n=20 hands) groups. Patients were randomly allocated to receive 1 session per week for 3 weeks of either sham or active ESWT. All patients were prescribed with tendon and nerve gliding exercises and hand-wrist splint which used night and during the day and keep the wrist in a neutral position. Patients were evaluated before the treatment, and at the end of the first week, first month and third month after the last treatment session with Boston Scale (symptom severity and functional capacity), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain and paresthesia assessment, for muscle strength hand gross grasp and electroneurophysiological parameters. Clinical and electromyographic variables were similar at baseline in both groups. In both groups, significant improvements were observed in VAS, Boston Scale (symptom severity and functional capacity) and hand gross grasp after treatment. None of the treatment methods was found superior (p>0.05). In both groups, there was no statistically significant improvement in electromyographic variables after treatment (p>0.05). In conclusion, although ESWT was effective in symptoms in CTS but this efficacy is not superior to placebo. Our results indicated that US therapy was effective in pai and clinical variables in CTS. Wider and high-quality studies are needed to further demonstrate the effectiveness of ESWT in treatment of CTS. Keywords: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, CTS, splint, ESWT, pain, paresthesia, conservative treatment.