ABSTRACT

Introduction: Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common compressive neuropathy caused by compression of

the median nerve in the carpal tunnel. According to the American Academy of Neurology, there is a 10% risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome during the person’s life.

Aim: The aim of this retrospective study is to determine the success of physiotherapy and surgical decompression in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Material and methods: 90 respondents (30 in each group) met the criteria for inclusion. Data are archives of the EMNG laboratory of the “Sveti Duh Clinical Hospital”, Zagreb. The fi rst group had good clinical fi nding of the median nerve. The second group with pathological findings of the median nervere received physiotherapy while the third group had surgical decompression. Values of distal motor latency and motor conduction velocity of the median nerve were compared before and after physiotherapy as well before and after surgical decompression.

Results: There was no statistically signifi cant difference in the second group in values of distal motor latency of the median nerve before and after physiotherapy (p = 0.237) as well as in the values of motor conduction velocity of the median nerve (p = 0.296). In the third group there is a statistically signifi cant difference in the values of distal motor latency of the median nerve before and after surgical decompression (0.0001) as well as motor conduction velocity of the median nerve before and after surgical decompression (p = 0.003).

Conclusion: Surgical decompression has been shown to be superior to carpal tunnel syndrome treatment than physiotherapy.

Key words: carpal tunnel syndrome, distal motor latency n. median, physiotherapy, surgical decompression