Jahanzaib Rasool, Sana Akram, Ayesha Jamil, Mahroze Tauseef, Ahsan Ilyas.
Effects of Power Ball Exercises in Addition to Routine Physical Therapy on Pain, Grip Strength and Functional Disability in patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
Healer J Physiotherap Rehab Jan ;3(4):451-60.

Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common entrapment neuropathy that often presents with pain, numbness, tingling and weakness in the hand and arm. Delayed treatment may worsen the symptoms and progresses to permanent sensory loss and thenar paralysis in some cases. Objective: To determine the comparative effects of Powerball exercises and strength training on pain, functional disability and grip strength in patients having carpal tunnel syndrome. Methods: This controlled trial was done from March to December 2022 at Badar Medical Complex on 86 patients that were recruited through purposive sampling. group A received routine physical therapy only while group B received Powerball exercises and routine physical therapy. Participants of both gender with aged 45-60 years were clinically diagnosed syndrome with a time span of more than two months and numbness over the dorsum surface of the thumb, index, middle and lateral 1/3rd of ring fingers and positive Tinel`s sign with Phalen`s maneuver were included in the study. Pain, grip strength and functional status were the outcome measures, observed through a numeric pain rating scale, hand-held dynamometer and Boston carpal tunnel syndrome questionnaire at baseline, 2nd and 4th week. Independent t-test and mixed-design analysis of variance were used for between and within-group differences respectively. Results: The mean age of participants was 37.10 +- 7.85 and there were 50 (58%) females and 36 (42%) males in the study and 46 (54%) participants had normal body mass index, 44 (51%) had right-sided carpal tunnel syndrome. The results showed significant between-group differences in pain, and functional disability (p<0.05). However, no significant difference was observed for grip strength. The within-group difference was found significant in both groups for all variables (p<0.05). Conclusion: The addition of Powerball exercises with routine physical therapy is more effective in reducing pain and improving functional disability and grip strength in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome than physical therapy alone.

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