Massage therapy eases the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome and increases grip strength, according to a recent study.

"Carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms are lessened following massage therapy" was conducted by employees at the Touch Investigation Institutes in the University of Miami College of Medicine in Miami, Florida.

Symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome consist of pain, tingling, burning and numbness from the hand. Sixteen persons diagnosed with this syndrome participated in the study. All of them held jobs involving heavy word processing or pc operate.

Subjects had been randomly assigned to either the standard-treatment control group or the massage-therapy group. Those in the massage group received a single massage per week on the affected arm for four weeks. They had been also instructed in self-massage, which they were to execute each and every evening prior to bed.

The massage routine consisted of stroking of moderate stress in the fingertips to the elbow. A massage and pain log was kept by subjects in the massage group. Inside the log, participants recorded the times at which they started and ended self-massage, too as their levels of pain on a scale from zero to ten.

Subjects in the handle group received no intervention, but have been taught the massage routine immediately after the study ended.

Physicians evaluated participants' carpal tunnel symptoms, which include tingling, numbness, pain and strength, in the starting and finish of your four-week study. The Tinel sign, which tests to find out if light tapping on the affected location elicits pain or tingling, was also utilised in the begin and finish from the study. Physicians used the Phalen Test at the starting and finish with the study also. The Phalen Test includes flexing of the wrists to determine if numbness or tingling happens.

A nerve conduction test was also performed at the begin and finish in the study. This involved stimulation with the median sensory nerves by means of electrodes placed on each and every subject's index finger and wrist. Peak sensory latencies were recorded to test for nerve compression at the carpal tunnel. Median peak latency was the key outcome measure.

Assessments had been also created just before and immediately after the massage sessions on the initial and last days of your study, such as the Perceived Grip Strength Scale; VITAS, a pain assessment applying a visual analogue scale; the state anxiousness inventory; plus the Profile of Mood States.

Benefits from the study showed that the subjects within the massage group had drastically significantly less pain and decreased carpal tunnel symptoms, too as shorter median peak latencies and elevated grip strength.

"Functional activity also enhanced as noted in lowered pain and increased grip strength in the massage therapy group, both straight away immediately after the initial and final massage therapy sessions and by the end on the study," state the study's authors. "Finally, the massage therapy group reported decrease anxiousness and depressed mood levels each quickly right after the very first and last sessions and by the finish in the study."