The Effect of Hand Dominance on Patient-Reported Outcomes of Carpal Tunnel Release in Patients with Bilateral Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Abstract

Background: There is a paucity of studies in published literature that examines the effect of hand dominance on the resolution of symptoms following a carpal tunnel release. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of hand dominance on the resolution of symptoms following surgical decompression in patients with severe and moderate carpal tunnel syndrome. Methods: Bilateral carpal tunnel release (total 90 open and 84 endoscopic) was performed on 87 patients (11 males, 76 females) presenting with bilateral severe or moderate carpal tunnel syndrome of equal severity. Patient-reported outcome of resolution of symptoms were recorded, with patients followed up until complete resolution of symptoms or last recorded consultation (mean follow-up duration 11.4 months, range 3.1 to 32.4 months). Results: In patients with bilateral severe carpal tunnel syndrome, a larger proportion of non-dominant hand (75.4%) achieved complete resolution compared to dominant hand (72.1%), and did so at a statistically shorter time (mean: 52.3 days) than the dominant hand (mean: 81.0 days). However, there was no statistically significant difference between proportion of patients and time taken before complete resolution of symptoms between dominant and non-dominant hand in patients with bilateral moderate carpal tunnel syndrome. Conclusions: Symptoms in the non-dominant hand resolved faster after carpal tunnel release in patients with severe carpal tunnel syndrome. We postulate that greater daily activity by the dominant hand compared to the non-dominant hand may be a contributing factor to its slower rate of symptoms resolution post-surgically in patients with bilateral severe carpal tunnel syndrome. This effect of hand dominance is not evident in post-surgical patients with moderate carpal tunnel syndrome.