Effect of Corrective Exercises Combined With Massage Therapy on Hand Grip Strength, Hand Range of Motion and Wrist Pain in Female Karate Players With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

 Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is one of the most common peripheral nerve entrapments that occurs due to compression or involvement of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel. This study aims to investigate the effect of selected corrective exercises combined with massage on hand grip strength, hand range of motion (ROM) and wrist pain in female karate players with CTS.

 This is a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test/post-test design conducted on 30 female karate players with CTS aged 25-45 years. They were assigned to two exercise (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. In addition to the massage therapy, the exercise group performed stretching and strength exercises for 8 weeks, two sessions per week. The control group only performed their routine training. Tinel’s test, Phalen’s test and carpal compression test were used under the supervision of a neurologist to check for carpal tunnel. Pain intensity was measured using the visual analog scale; the hand grip strength was measured using a hand-held dynamometer and a universal goniometer was used to measure the hand ROM in four movements of pronation, supination, abduction and adduction. The analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data and the significance level was P<0.05.

 The combined program caused a significant decrease in pain intensity, an increase in grip strength, and an increase in hand ROM in the exercise group compared to the control group (P<0.001).

 The selected corrective exercises combined with massage therapy can reduce wrist pain intensity and increase hand grip strength and hand ROM in female karate players with CTS. The therapists and sports trainers are recommended to use this combined program to improve the carpal tunnel of female karate players.