Pain is Associated to Clinical, Psychological, Physical, and Neurophysiological Variables in Women With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate potential relationships of clinical (age, function, side of pain, years with pain), physical (cervical range of motion, pinch grip force), psychological (depression), and neurophysiological (pressure and thermal pain thresholds) outcomes and hand pain intensity in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).

METHODS: Two hundred and forty-four (n=224) women with CTS were recruited. Demographic data, duration of the symptoms, function and severity of the disease, pain intensity, depression, cervical range of motion, pinch tip grip force, heat/cold pain thresholds (HPT/CPT), and pressure pain thresholds (PPT) were collected. Correlation and regression analysis were performed to determine the association among those variables and to determine the proportions of explained variance in hand pain intensity.

RESULTS: Significant negative correlations existed between the intensity of pain and PPTs over the radial nerve, C5/C6 zygapophyseal joint, carpal tunnel and tibialis anterior muscle, HPT over the carpal tunnel, cervical extension and lateral-flexion, and thumb-middle, fourth, and little finger pinch tip forces. Significant positive correlations between the intensity of hand pain with function and depression were also observed. Stepwise regression analyses revealed that function, thumb-middle finger pinch, thumb-little finger pinch, depression, PPT radial nerve, PPT carpal tunnel, and HPT carpal tunnel were significant predictors of intensity of hand pain (R²=0.364; R² adjusted=0.343; F=16.87; P<0.001).

CONCLUSION: This study showed that 36.5% of the variance of pain intensity was associated to clinical (function), neurophysiological (localized PPT and HPT), psychological (depression), and physical (finger pinch tip force) outcomes in women with chronic CTS.