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- Talk
- Canada
The Effect of Patient Resilience and Pain Catastrophizing on Carpal Tunnel
Description
In this presentation, Sarah McLaren discusses the management of carpal tunnel syndrome and the impact of psychological factors on surgical outcomes. She explains that carpal tunnel syndrome is primarily caused by the compression of the median nerve and is typically treated with surgical interventions that generally yield favorable results. However, some patients experience inferior outcomes, which research has linked to various demographic and health-related factors, such as diabetes and smoking.
The focus of McLaren's study is to investigate how personality traits, specifically resilience and catastrophizing, influence post-operative outcomes in patients undergoing carpal tunnel release surgery. The study involved a prospective case series of 93 patients who completed several questionnaires assessing their psychological traits and functional status before and after surgery. Despite finding significant improvements in all patients, the results showed no correlation between personality traits and their surgical outcomes, which was surprising given findings from other orthopedic contexts.
The study faced limitations, including higher-than-expected attrition rates and potential ceiling effects in the assessment tools used. Despite these limitations, the team concludes that carpal tunnel release surgery is effective and its success is consistent regardless of patients' psychological characteristics. McLaren advocates for continued offering of this surgery to all patients, regardless of individual psychological or personality traits.