Efficiency of Mirror Therapy After Carpal Tunnel Surgery

Mirror therapy is the treatment method in which mental performance of movements is performed by observing the movements of the healthy extremities. In the case of mirror treatment, the mirror box is placed on a fixed floor. The mirror is positioned so that the patient's body can be fully centered and the mirror image can be seen. While the affected limb is placed on the rear side of the mirror, the firm extremity is opposite to the mirror. The patient focuses on the mirror image of the moving healthy hand and, through artificial visual feedback, perceives the affected limb as moving. The exercises are as follows: flexor tendon gliding exercises, median motor exercises, wrist and forearm ROM exercises and function-oriented exercises.

The first two weeks involve only immobilisation with plaster. The next 4 weeks, patients do the exercises which follows: 15 minutes water bath, scar tissue massage, flexor tendon gliding exercises, median motor exercises, wrist flexion-extention, median nerve gliding exercise (in addition, one week after plaster removal), hand wrist stretching exercise (in addition, 2 weeks after plaster removal).