Frequently asked questions

This site has now become very large and I appreciate that it may be hard to find some information which is actually there without reading the entire site. It has been suggested that I provide an 'index' page but I have been struggling with exactly how to do this. The 'Sitemap' is automatically generated by DRUPAL but although this gives you a list of the pages in the site it does not always help you to work out what is in them. I am therefore going to try to create a 'selective index' here based around questions which I often see asked in the forums here and on other interactive websites. If you have a suggestion for an entry on this page then please post it in the website forum and I will see what I can do. This page has a 'quick' answer to each question and a link to the part of the site providing more detailed information. To start with we have perhaps the most frequently asked question on the web, though it often appears in the form "I have had surgery and still have symptoms, is this right?" This provides an example - I will add more in due course where it is evident that people are having difficulty finding the right pages

What should I expect after treatment for my CTS?

a) Splinting - Adequate relief of symptoms within 4 weeks in 34% of patients

b) Steroid injection - Relief of CTS symptoms in 80% of patients within 48 hours, 30% minor side effects

c) Surgery - Relief of tingling and CTS pain within 48 hours of surgery, other symptoms may be slower to recover (look for the new section on speed of recovery after surgery within this page)

See also the pages on Surgical Prognosis and Non-surgical Prognosis

My symptoms don't fit the questions in the questionnaire?

The most likely reason for this is that you do not have CTS! You are welcome to post a message in the forum section describing your symptoms and you will usually get an answer from me but bear in mind that I have no special expertise in anything other than CTS. Some other possible causes of hand and arm symptoms are listed HERE

Revision date - 28th July 2021