Telerehabilitation in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Effectiveness of a Multimodal Telerehabilitation Program Combining Pain Neuroscience Education and Therapeutic Exercise for Patients With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a compressive peripheral neuropathy characterized by pain, tingling sensation and paresthesia in the territory of the median nerve. These symptoms cause significant functional impairment that affects patients' quality of life. Pain neuroscience education (PNE) combined with therapeutic exercise (TE) has shown good results in patients with chronic pain, but the effects of this multimodal treatment via telerehabilitation have not been studied in patients with CTS. Telerehabilitation has demonstrated clinical and functional outcomes as effective as face-to-face interventions, being a good alternative to improve accessibility to rehabilitation care in a context of pandemic and social distancing. The purpose of this study is to provide coordinated, patient-centered care by implementing a Telerehabilitation model for patients with severe CTS. The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of a multimodal therapy program (TE plus PNE) versus a unimodal treatment (TE) in patients with CTS.

A Randomized Controlled Trial, simple-blind and multicenter study will be conducted. Patients will be randomly assigned to the multimodal treatment group (TE plus PNE) or to the unimodal treatment group (TE). At admission, an investigator blinded to treatment assignment will conduct data collection. The measurements will be the following outcomes: a) Pain Catastrophizing Scale; b) Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia-11; c) Numerical Rating Scale (NRS); d) Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire; e) Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; f) Quality of Life, using the EQ-5D instrument; g) Patient's global impression of change; h) Katz Diagram; These evaluations will be performed again at week 6 and 12.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Multimodal treatment; Other: Unimodal treatment

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 30
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Chile
  • Santiago, Chile
    • Hospital La Florida

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 20 years to 70 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Over 20 years of age, severe CTS medical diagnosis, duration of symptoms for more than three months, access to a smartphone with internet, and acceptance to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Inability to understand instructions, non-controlled mental health pathology, cognitive problems and previous surgery in the upper limb.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: SINGLE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Multimodal treatment; Therapeutic Exercise plus Pain Neuroscience Education	Other: Multimodal treatment; A multimodal telerehabilitation intervention will be conducted through Whatsapp video calls. The combined treatment includes: 1) One 30-minute session of education in neurosciences of pain, using audiovisual material with examples and metaphors to improve the patient's understanding. In addition, two sessions of reinforcement of key contents will be held every 15 days; 2) Therapeutic exercise program: active wrist and finger exercises, stretching, mobilization exercises of the median nerve, and aerobic exercise (brisk walking). Each exercise will be dosed on a personalized basis, with a perceived exertion of 4-5 on the Borg scale. Therapeutic exercise will be self-administered, 3 sessions per week for 6 weeks. Telerehabilitation sessions will be performed every 15 days to monitor adherence and adjust the exercise dose.
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: Unimodal treatment; Therapeutic Exercise	Other: Unimodal treatment; An unimodal telerehabilitation intervention will be performed through Whatsapp video calls. The treatment will include only a therapeutic exercise program: active wrist and finger exercises, stretching, mobilization exercises of the median nerve, and aerobic exercise (brisk walking). Each exercise will be dosed on a personalized basis, with a perceived exertion of 4-5 on the Borg scale. Therapeutic exercise will be self-administered, 3 sessions per week for 6 weeks. Telerehabilitation sessions will be performed every 15 days to monitor adherence and adjust the exercise dose.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from Baseline Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) at 6 and 12 weeks	To assess catastrophic thinking as a response to pain through 13 statements with 4 possible options from 1 "not at all" to 4 "all the time". a higher score indicates a higher catastrophic thinking	Baseline (0 weeks), 6 weeks and 12 week
Change from Baseline Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia-11 (TSK-11) at 6 and 12 weeks	Kinesiophobia will be evaluated by Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK-11SV) (Spanish adaptation. Gómez-Pérez, López-Martínez y Ruiz-Párraga, 2011). Scoring: Items are summed, with a total score from 11-44 and higher values represent a worse outcome (more pain interference in behavior).	Baseline (0 weeks), 6 weeks and 12 week
Change from Baseline Numerical rating scale (NRS) at 6 and 12 weeks	The patient must rate his or her pain on a defined scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst pain imaginable.	Baseline (0 weeks), 6 weeks and 12 week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from Baseline Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) at 6 and 12 weeks	The BCTQ measures self-reported functional status (BCTQ-F) and severity (BCTQ-S). The BCTQ-S consists of 11 questions, each question provides 5 response choices, from 1 (no symptoms) to 5 (most severe/often). The BCTQ-F includes 8 questions assessing difficulty with daily tasks. These responses are also scored on a 5-point scale (1-5).	Baseline (0 weeks), 6 weeks and 12 week
Change from Baseline Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) at 6 and 12 weeks	Patient's emotional state will be evaluated by Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD), which assess the level of anxiety and depression. Subscales and score range are Anxiety (0-21) and Depression (0-21). Scoring: items of each subscale are summed, indicating: 0-7 normality, 8-10 probably case, 11-21 anxiety or depression clinical case. Higher values represent a worse outcome.	Baseline (0 weeks), 6 weeks and 12 week
Change from Baseline EQ-5D at 6 and 12 weeks	The EQ-5D is a self-assessed health-related quality of life questionnaire. The EQ-5D consists essentially of 2 pages: the EQ-5D description system and the visual analog scale (EQ VAS).	Baseline (0 weeks), 6 weeks and 12 week
Hand diagrams	To define total area marked for pain and numbness. The areas of the hand are marked by the patient and the marked area is quantified in square centimeters.	Baseline (0 weeks)
Change from Baseline Muscular endurance at 6 and 12 weeks	Maximum number of repetitions of rapid opening and closing of the hand until fatigue.	Baseline (0 weeks), 6 weeks and 12 week
Patient Global Impression of Change Scale (PGICS)	The PGICS consists of two subscales, one categorical and one quantitative. The categorical scale is a 7-point verbal scale with the options "I have improved a lot" = 7, "I have improved a lot" = 6, "I have improved a little" = 5, "I am the same" = 4, "I have gotten a little worse" = 3, "I have gotten a lot worse" = 2, "I have gotten a lot worse" = 1.205-207 And, the quantitative scale consists of a line from 0 to 10, where 0 = much better and 10 = much worse.	6 weeks
Patient Global Impression of Change Scale (PGICS)	The PGICS consists of two subscales, one categorical and one quantitative. The categorical scale is a 7-point verbal scale with the options "I have improved a lot" = 7, "I have improved a lot" = 6, "I have improved a little" = 5, "I am the same" = 4, "I have gotten a little worse" = 3, "I have gotten a lot worse" = 2, "I have gotten a lot worse" = 1.205-207 And, the quantitative scale consists of a line from 0 to 10, where 0 = much better and 10 = much worse.	12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Hospital Clínico La Florida
• Collaborators: University of Valencia; University of Chile; Hospital San José; Hospital Provincia Cordillera

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): January 15, 2022
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): July 6, 2022
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): July 6, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 27, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 21, 2021
• First Posted (ACTUAL): January 11, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): August 3, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 2, 2022
• Last Verified: August 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: pain; exercise; education; disability
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Nervous System Diseases; Wounds and Injuries; Disease; Neuromuscular Diseases; Mononeuropathies; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases; Median Neuropathy; Nerve Compression Syndromes; Cumulative Trauma Disorders; Sprains and Strains; Syndrome; Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Other Study ID Numbers: RNCHLF0022020

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No