No advantage from splinting the wrist after open carpal tunnel release

In order to study the value of postoperative splinting after open carpal tunnel surgery 82 wrist were randomly selected to either 4 weeks of postoperative immobilisation or to no postoperative immobilisation. The distributions of scar discomfort or pain and "pillar pain" were equal in the two groups both at 6 weeks and 6 months. Median sick leave was 6 weeks in both groups. Median VAS values for remaining discomfort and pain at 2 weeks, 6 weeks and 6 months were almost identical in the two groups. Grip strength was reduced compared to preoperative values by around a quarter and keypinch strength by about 10 % in both groups at 6 weeks and had returned to normal by 6 months. Pinch between the thumb and the tips of fingers 4 and 5 was considerably reduced postoperatively, but without statistical significance between the groups. We conclude that 4 weeks of postoperative immobilisation conf ers no detectable benefit.