OBJECTIVES: We aimed to (1) estimate the short-term effect (post-intervention period) of neurodynamic techniques on pain, symptom severity, functional status, electrophysiological status, grip strength and pinch strength in people with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and (2) estimate the effect of neurodynamic techniques compared to other physical therapy modalities and surgical interventions. DESIGN: Intervention systematic review with meta-analysis. LITERATURE SEARCH: We searched the Medline, Cochrane, Web of Science, PEDro and Scopus databases from their inception to September 2020. STUDY SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomized controlled trials reporting the effect of neurodynamic techniques on pain, symptom severity, function, distal motor latency, grip strength and pinch strength in people with CTS. DATA SYNTHESIS: Using the der Simonian and Laird method, we estimated pooled standardized mean differences (SMDs) and the 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). We used the GRADE approach to judge the certainty of the evidence of each pairwise comparison. RESULTS: There were 22 trials included (n = 1,203 people with CTS, age 26.0 to 54.6 years, symptom duration 4.1 to 62.8 months). There was very low certainty evidence for neurodynamic techniques improving pain (SMD -0.54; 95% CI -0.95 to -0.13) and function (SMD -0.35; 95% CI -0.61 to -0.09). There was no significant effect on symptom severity (low certainty), distal motor latency (low certainty), and grip and pinch strength (moderate certainty). CONCLUSION: Neurodynamic techniques were effective for improving pain and function in people with CTS, albeit with very low certainty evidence.

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