Peripheral Repetitive Magnetic Stimulation: A Novel Approach for Hand Rehabilitation in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - A Pilot Study

Abstract

Carpal tunnel syndrome is one of the disabling conditions that affects human participation and quality of life. The surgical treatment of diagnosed carpal tunnel syndrome is well known to be more effective than the conservative methods, but this pilot study on five subjects diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome gives hope that repetitive magnetic stimulation applied to the wrist could be effective in the rehabilitation of the hand neuro-muscular functionality and symptomatology. The goal of this study was to evaluate the short and medium effects of peripheral repetitive magnetic stimulation (RMS) on carpal tunnel pain and hand's loss of function. Two weeks of daily sessions treatment, each lasting 10 minutes of stimulation, have shown significant improvement of the functional score (Boston Questionare), hand grip force and also of symptomatic status (Boston Questionare, PainDetect Questionaire).