Effectiveness of hand therapy intervention for carpal tunnel syndrome patients at CRP

Abstract

Abstract Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome can often be effectively treated in a primary care environment. In Carpal tunnel syndrome daily activities and occupation are hampered because of severe pain when moving the wrist. It is not a cause of disability, pain may limit productivity. Objectives of the study: The objectives were to find out the effectiveness of treatment protocol for carpal tunnel syndrome. Methodology: It was a quasi- experimental, pretest-posttest design of quantitative research. In this research, total 9 participants were selected and data was collected by using convenience sampling method. Patients were allocated for 4 weeks: treatment sessions were applied for the group, the assessment was done again on a post- test on the same group by the same scales and changes between pre and posttest of

the same groups were compared. Pain was measured by VAS scale; Hand function was measured by Royal Air Force scale; Hand Strength was measured by Jamar Dynamo meter; Pinch Strength was measured by Pinch Gause; and Range of Motion was measured by Goniometre. Result and Discussion: In this study, the result shows positive changes in all the parametric outcome measure of the outcome area. At the end of the treatment sessions each of the participants had improvements to varying degree. However, OT treatment was more effective, especially for the outcomes of lessening symptom severity, pain reduction and patient satisfaction. Conclusion: Therefore, hypothesis can be proved that 4 weeks Occupational Therapy treatment was effective in treating CTS patients resulted in better outcomes. For long term effectiveness, the treatment program should be started as early as possible as part of the best practice for carpal tunnel syndrome patients.