Carpal tunnel syndrome is one of the most common types of repetitive strain injuries, becoming a special problem with the increased use of computers in the workplace. Treatment of this problem is often quite difficult. When conservative measures fail, people often find themselves resorting to surgery to bring some relief from the pain and disability that effects not only their wrists but eventually their arms and shoulders and necks.
Unfortunately, the ability of surgery to bring relief is unreliable and varied. At a recent conference of hand surgeons attended by Dr. Miller, several of the surgeons said publicly they believed that surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome to be almost completely ineffective. Those people who improved with surgery, they felt, would have likely gotten better without surgery.
Fortunately alternative treatments for carpal syndrome exist and have proven very effective. Acupuncture, or acupuncture together with microcurrent stimulation, is one of these alternate treatments. The best prognostic indicator that we find is the age of the disease. Someone who has had several weeks of symptoms responds much more quickly than someone who has had symptoms that have lasted for years.
You can follow the links below to read the work of one of the doctors involved with the 3 year study by the National Institute of Health on the effectiveness of acupuncture. Dr. Margaret A. Naeser showed some very good success in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome with her techniques. Although her protocol for treatment is rather complex, she did strong research to test the effectiveness of her techniques and her results are quite impressive. We found it to be one of the most successful alternative approaches to the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome that we have seen. Well timed given the numerous reports coming from the surgeons about the ineffectiveness of surgery for the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome.
This treatment is somewhat complicated, but treatments are painless and the risks are virtually zero, The success rate is quite good. Please see the links below for the different studies.
Laser acupuncture and microamps TENS to treat pain in carpal tunnel syndrome
Branco K, Naeser MA. 1999. Carpal tunnel syndrome: clinical outcome after low-level laser acupuncture, microamps transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, and other alternative therapies – an open protocol study. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 5, 5-26. CLICK to read as pdf
Naeser MA, Hahn KK, Lieberman BE, Branco KF. 2002. Carpal tunnel syndrome pain treated with low-level laser and microamperes transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation: a controlled study. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 83, 978-88. CLICK to read as pdf
Naeser MA. 2006. Photobiomodulation of pain in carpal tunnel syndrome: review of seven laser therapy studies. Photomedicine and Laser Surgery 24, 101-110. CLICK to read as pdf
