Return to Functional Hand Use and Work Following Open Carpal Tunnel Surgery

Abstract

This study assessed recovery from open carpal tunnel surgery. One hundred and twelve operations in 75 patients (38 unilateral, 37 bilateral) were reviewed prospectively. A validated questionnaire was completed pre- and postoperatively. Additional information was collected regarding symptom severity at regular intervals following surgery. The time to regain all evaluated activities of daily living was 13 (range 1-90, median 7) days. Return to driving took 9 days and return to work 17 days, even although exactly half of the patients underwent simultaneous bilateral operations. We did not find any significant differences in the time to resumption of activities of daily living or work between the patients who underwent unilateral or bilateral procedures, or between those who underwent surgery to the dominant or non-dominant hand. Overall improvement in symptoms and function was no worse in patients undergoing simultaneous bilateral procedures as compared with unilateral procedures.

When Can I Drive After Orthopaedic Surgery? A Systematic Review

“…Two of these articles discussed procedures that were not on our original list, one was not indexed in either database, one did not have driving as a primary focus, and the remaining six articles discussed driving with limb immobilization. Thirty-four articles had data relevant to our study Question 1 [1, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 19, 22, 23, 26-30, 34, 36, 37, 39, 41, 42, 45-50, 53, 55, 57, 60, 63, 64], eight had data relevant to Question 2 [2,6,7,17,20,21,43,46], and seven had data relevant to Question 3 [3,31,32,35,54,58,59] (Table 1). The range of MINORS scores for comparative studies was 17 to 24, and the range for noncomparative studies was 11 to 15.…”

“…One article included a different type of step test that involved maintaining balance on the involved limb while using the contralateral limb to step on and off a 15-cm step as quickly as possible [9]. Survey data of when patients reported return to driving were published in 14 articles [1,2,4,5,17,27,29,31,34,43,45,46,49,55]. …”

“…Thirty-nine percent of patients with right or left total shoulder arthroplasty resumed driving within 1 month and another 55% resumed driving within 1 to 3 months [46]. Patients with open carpal tunnel surgery reported returning to driving 9 days, on average, after surgery [2].…”

“…Questions/purposes Based on the available evidence, we sought to determine when patients can safely return to driving after (1) lower extremity orthopaedic surgery and injuries; (2) upper extremity orthopaedic surgery and injuries; and (3) spine surgery. Methods A search was performed using PubMed and EMBASE 1 , with a list of 20 common orthopaedic procedures and the words ''driving'' and ''brake''.…”

Influence of compensation status on time off work after carpal tunnel release and rotator cuff surgery: a meta-analysis

“…There are numerous factors that have been shown to determine return to work time including psychological issues, job type and work-place features [1,4,5,8,9]. …”