Efficacies of Acupuncture and Anti-inflammatory Treatment for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Hadianfard M, Bazrafshan E, Momeninejad H, Jahani N. · Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies · 2015 October

DOI 10.1016/j.jams.2014.11.005

Objective

This study compared the efficacies of acupuncture and anti-inflammatory treatment in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Fifty patients with mild to moderate CTS were randomly divided into two groups.

Conclusions

The findings indicated that acupuncture significantly improved wrist pain. Patients reported to have a decreased in numbness, better quality sleep and increased in wrist mobility. There is also an overall decreased with intake of painkillers and non-steroidoidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

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Insights

Short-term acupuncture treatment is more effective than ibuprofen for mild to moderate carpal tunnel syndrome.

In our study, none of the patients treated with acupuncture developed complications, whereas five patients treated with ibuprofen had gastrointestinal side effects (we then used omeprazole); however, none of them withdrew from the study due to the adverse effects. Therefore, acupuncture is superior in safety as well. The limitations of this study include the low number of treatment sessions in the group treated with acupuncture. If the number of treatment sessions were added, better therapeutic results may have been obtained. Overall, it seems that acupuncture is a relatively uncomplicated and safe treatment option for patients with mild to moderate CTS and can improve symptoms and electrodiagnostic parameters.