| A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Dietary Supplements for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome |
| Paper ID : 1008-ISCSR3 (R1) |
| Authors |
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Ahmed Samir *1, Soumaya M. Elghoul2, Hagar Ibrahim3, Mayar Othman3, Ahmed Abdullah4, Islam Saeed ELHOIS5, Ibrahim Moqbel6 1Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. 2Faculty of Medicine, University of Tripoli, Tripoli, Libya. 3Faculty of Physcial Therapy, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. 4Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt. 5Ministery of Health and Population, Qena General Hospital, Egypt. 6Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. |
| Abstract |
| Objective: This systematic review aimed to assess the effectiveness of dietary supplements for CTS for of pain relief and improve function. The supplements examined included vitamin B6, vitamin D, alpha-lipoic acid, palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), astaxanthin, and their combinations. Materials and Methods: PubMed, Cochrane (CENTRAL), Web of Science (WOS), and Scopus databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed the effectiveness of dietary supplements for CTS. Two researchers independently screened titles, abstracts, and full-text articles. Methodological quality was evaluated using the revised Cochrane Collaboration tool (RoB 2.0) because of the high risk of bias in the methodological quality of the included studies and the heterogeneity of the interventions. We used Cohen's d as the effect estimate and employed vote counting based on the direction of effect as the synthesis method. Results: We included eight RCTs (n = 644 patients). The mean age of participants across the studies ranged from 42.7 to 69 years, with a slightly greater proportion of females. We observed significant pain reduction with multiple interventions in the vitamin D (2000 IU/day) combined with corticosteroids. Vitamin B6 interventions significantly improved median nerve sensory conduction velocity and sensory amplitude while decreasing latency. PEA treatment showed insignificant improvement in pain scores or electrophysiological parameters. Astaxanthin supplementation combined with splinting showed insignificant effect over placebo for functional outcomes. The combination of complex antioxidants (acetyl-L-carnitine, α-lipoic acid, curcumin, and vitamins) significantly improved both pain (VAS scores) and symptom severity. Conclusion: Dietary supplements have therapeutic benefits for patients with CTS, supporting their use either alone or in combination with standard treatment. However, further larger and higher-quality studies are necessary to confirm their effectiveness. |
| Keywords |
| Alpha-lipoic acid, Carpal tunnel syndrome, Randomized controlled trials, Vitamins, Vitamin B6, Vitamin D. |
| Status: Abstract Accepted |