Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - Surgery

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Recovery after Surgery

Timing of Recovery. For some patients, release surgery relieves symptoms of numbness and tingling immediately.

• People who have the operation on both hands will need someone to help them at home for about 2 weeks.
• Returning to strenuous work right after surgery may cause the symptoms to return. Patients who work in strenuous jobs generally stay out of work for at least a month and often much longer, depending upon the type of surgery and the severity of the condition. Recovery time appears to be faster with endoscopy or mini-open release than with open release.
• People who perform light office work will return to work much sooner, although possibly with some limitations.
• Immediately after surgery, patients usually experience a decline in grip strength and dexterity. Studies have reported a wide range of recovery in this area. The scar may remain tender for up to a year.
• Peak improvement (the best level of improvement a patient can reach) may take a long time (up to 10 months).

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Physical Therapy. Physical therapy following surgery has not been shown to speed up recovery or affect the final outcome of CTS surgery.

Complications and Long-Term Outcome

Treatment failure and complication rates of CTS surgery vary.

Complications after surgery may include the following:

• Nerve damage with tingling and numbness (usually temporary)
• Infection
• Scarring
• Pain
• Stiffness
• Loss of some wrist strength is a complication that affects 10 - 30% of patients. Some patients who have jobs requiring significant hand and wrist strength may not be able to perform them after surgery. These workers may also have problems in other parts of the upper body, including the elbows and shoulders. These problems do not go away with surgery and can persist. Studies indicate that 10 - 15% of patients change jobs after a CTS operation.

If pain and symptoms return, the release procedure may be repeated.

Reasons for procedure failure include:

• Incomplete release of the ligament
• Extensive scarring
• Recurrence of the disorder due to underlying medical conditions

Patients who had open release surgery appear more likely to require repeat operations compared with those who have had endoscopic surgery.

Review Date: 02/17/2011
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).