Non-surgical interventions for carpal tunnel syndrome

Clinical bottom line

There is no evidence for benefit from non-surgical interventions for carpal tunnel syndrome, though steroid injections were not included in this review.

Reference

D O'Connor et al. Non-surgical treatment (other than steroid injection) for carpal tunnel syndrome. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2003 issue 1.

Review

A large number of electronic databases were searched for trials of non-surgical interventions for carpal tunnel syndrome. Steroid injections were not included. The review included trials that were not properly randomised.

Results

Twenty-one small trials with 884 patients were included. For intervention was there any good quality evidence showing substantial benefit at three months.

Comment

There is a dearth of good evidence.