Effectivity of acupuncture as an adjuvant therapy for patient with carpal tunnel syndrome

Introduction: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), as the most common compressive neuropathy, can be treated with either conservative therapy, such as oral steroid, night splinting, local steroid injection; or surgical therapy, such as carpal tunnel release. Acupuncture is one of the adjuvant therapy could be given to relieve the CTS symptoms, but there are still limited studies about its effectivity; therefore, this study aims to determine the efficacy of acupuncture therapy to relieve the CTS symptoms. Methods: Literature searching was conducted on Pubmed, Cochrane, dan EBSCO Host. After screening titles and abstracts by using inclusion and exclusion criterias, two randomized clinical trials (RCT) were found, then were appraised its validity, importance, and applicability. Results: Based on two RCTs, there are clinical significant differences between control and intervention group, eventhough in some parameters there are no statistic significant differences. Conclusion: Acupunture therapy as an adjuvant therapy for CTS is encouraging but not convincing due to limited studies, also there is no standard regimen for acupuncture therapy in CTS.