Treatment
There have been numerous scientific papers evaluating treatment efficacy in CTS. It is important to distinguish treatments that are supported in the scientific literature from those that are advocated by any particular device manufacturer or any other party with a vested financial interest. Generally accepted treatments, as described below, may include splinting or bracing, steroid injection, activity modification, physiotherapy, regular massage therapy treatments, medications, and surgical release of the transverse carpal ligament.
According to the 2007 guidelines by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, early surgery with carpal tunnel release is indicated where there is clinical evidence of median nerve denervation or the patient elects to proceed directly to surgical treatment. Otherwise, the main recommended treatments are local corticosteroid injection, splinting (immobilizing braces), oral corticosteroids and ultrasound treatment. The treatment should be switched when the current treatment fails to resolve the symptoms within 2 to 7 weeks. However, these recommendations have sufficient evidence for carpal tunnel syndrome when found in association with the following conditions: diabetes mellitus, coexistent cervical radiculopathy, hypothyroidism, polyneuropathy, pregnancy, rheumatoid arthritis, and carpal tunnel syndrome in the workplace.
Read more about this topic: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Famous quotes containing the word treatment:
“[17th-century] Puritans were the first modern parents. Like many of us, they looked on their treatment of children as a test of their own self-control. Their goal was not to simply to ensure the child’s duty to the family, but to help him or her make personal, individual commitments. They were the first authors to state that children must obey God rather than parents, in case of a clear conflict.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
“Our treatment of both older people and children reflects the value we place on independence and autonomy. We do our best to make our children independent from birth. We leave them all alone in rooms with the lights out and tell them, “Go to sleep by yourselves.” And the old people we respect most are the ones who will fight for their independence, who would sooner starve to death than ask for help.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“A regular council was held with the Indians, who had come in on their ponies, and speeches were made on both sides through an interpreter, quite in the described mode,—the Indians, as usual, having the advantage in point of truth and earnestness, and therefore of eloquence. The most prominent chief was named Little Crow. They were quite dissatisfied with the white man’s treatment of them, and probably have reason to be so.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)