Peer-reviewed research
Greater clinical effects on carpal tunnel syndrome with surgery than with splinting; results of a randomised clinical trial
AAM Gerritsen et al., JAMA, 2002
Read the originalRead on October 16, 2026
- What it is
- A randomised trial in 13 Dutch hospitals that allocated 176 patients with confirmed idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome to night-time wrist splinting or open surgery and followed them for up to 18 months.
- How much weight it carries
- A randomised trial with an 18-month follow-up. Many splint patients later had surgery, which blurs the comparison, and the splint arm used custom splints in only a minority of cases, as critics have pointed out.
Facts taken from this source
- The Dutch trial randomly allocated 176 patients with carpal tunnel syndrome to night-time splinting (89) or open surgery (87).
“One hundred and seventy-six patients were included in the trial and were randomly allocated to either wrist splinting (n = 89) or open surgery (n = 87).” (Abstract, Method)
- By 18 months, 41% of the splint group in the Dutch trial had also had surgery.
“by that time 32/79 patients (41%) in the splint group had also undergone surgery.” (Results)
- At 18 months, 90% of surgery patients and 75% of splint patients reported success in the Dutch trial.
“and 90% (61/68) and 75% (59/79), respectively, after 18 months” (Results)
- In the Dutch trial, 79% of surgery patients reported success at three months, against 53% of splint patients.
“Success rates, based on perceived improvement, were 79% (62/78) for the surgery group and 53% (46/86) for the splint group after 3 months” (Results)