Abstract

Objective: The present study was conducted aiming to compare the effect of two exercise methods of massage therapy and splint with therapy exercise and splint on the range of motion and the ratio of wrist pain in male patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. Method of Investigation: Thirty male employees with carpal tunnel syndrome with the confirmation of specialist physician were selected as purposeful available and were located randomly into the first experimental group (15 people) with mean and standard deviation of age (43.33 ± 6.10 years), height (179.83 ± 5.79 cm), and weight (75.33± 3.24 kg) and second experimental group (15 people) (42.93± 6.70 years), height (175.73± 5.27 cm), and weight (78.07±5.45kg). The first experimental group performed therapeutic exercises and splint for eight weeks, three sessions in a week for 60 minutes and the second experimental group performed the same massage therapy exercises and splint for the same period. Goniometer was used to measure the wrist range of motion and pain self-efficacy questionnaires were used to measure pain ratio. To analyze the data, the statistical method of student t-test at the significance level of p ≤ 0.05 was used. Results: The results showed that intragroup changes have increased the ratio of wrist flexion and extension range of motion and the post-test pain ratio has significantly increased in two experimental groups (P <0.05). Intergroup changes also showed a significant difference in the ratio of wrist flexion range of motion and the pain ratio (P <0.05), but these changes were not significant in the ratio of wrist extension range of motion (P <0.05). Conclusion: The findings of this research showed that both exercise methods improved wrist range of motion factors and the ratio of pain. But the ratio of improvement in the experimental group of exercise therapy and splint was more than that of the massage and splint group‎.