BACKGROUND: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common condition caused by pressure on a nerve in the wrist. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of acupuncture plus night splinting on quality of life, function and pain in patients with CTS. METHOD(S): This research is a prospective randomized, single-center trial. Acupuncture and night splinting was applied two times a week for five weeks, while the control group received night splinting only. Outcomes measured were Quality of life (Nottingham Health Profile, NHP), function (Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire) and pain (visual analogue scale, VAS). RESULT(S): At the end of the treatment, the acupuncture plus splinting group showed more reduction in the pain level than the splinting group (p = 0.007). The change in the pain subscale of the NHP was significantly reduced in the acupuncture plus night splinting group than the night splinting group (p = 0.001). The change in sleep and physical activity subscale of the NHP score failed to show the significant differences between the two groups. The functional scores also failed to show the significant differences between the two groups. CONCLUSION(S): The effect of acupuncture plus night splinting may show significant reduction on pain but failed to show significant differences compared with night splinting in patients with CTS. Further studies with larger sample size may confirm the findings.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• DOI
• PDF locator
• publisher