Shock wave versus iontophoresis in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome

Abstract

Introduction. Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most commonly encountered nerve entrapment disorder; it causes pain, numbness, tingling sensation in the hands and leads to work disability. The purpose of this study was to analyse the impact of shock wave and iontophoresis in patients with CTS. Methods. This study was conducted in 30 patients with CTS of both sexes, aged 30-50 years. The patients were randomly allocated into 2 groups. Study group A received shock wave therapy and study group B received iontophoresis therapy. Results. The results revealed a higher improvement in group A than in group B. in group A, there were a significant increase of sensory nerve conduction velocity of median nerve and a significant decrease of pain after treatment, while in group B, there were a less significant increase of sensory nerve conduction and less significant reduction of pain after treatment. The inter-group comparisons showed statistically significant differences in favour of group A. Conclusions. Shock wave is more effective than iontophoresis in the treatment of patients with CTS.

Use of Iontophoresis with Corticosteroid in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…A total of 296 records were obtained from the search in the different databases, with only 7 randomized clinical trials meeting the selection criteria [21][22][23][24][25][26][27] (Figure 1). The main characteristics of the included studies are shown in Table 2.…”

“…In the four studies that reported bilateral cases [22,[25][26][27], 67% of the participants met this condition. All randomized clinical trials reported a mild or moderate level of severity, but two studies did not report this data [21,24].…”

“…The electrophysiological outcomes measured were median nerve sensory and motor conduction velocity, amplitude, and distal latency [21][22][23][25][26][27]. Median nerve motor conduction velocity, amplitude, and distal latency were also evaluated [28].…”

“…The visual analogue self-assess- The main characteristics of the included studies are shown in Table 2. The total sample size was 262 participants with a mean ranging from 30 years in the study of Elrakiz et al [21] and 54 years old in the study of Amirjani et al 2009 [26]. Among the studies, 90% had samples where women predominated against men [21,23,26,27].…”

“…The total sample size was 262 participants with a mean ranging from 30 years in the study of Elrakiz et al [21] and 54 years old in the study of Amirjani et al 2009 [26]. Among the studies, 90% had samples where women predominated against men [21,23,26,27]. In the four studies that reported bilateral cases [22,[25][26][27], 67% of the participants met this condition.…”