Carpal tunnel syndrome

How does it affect people?

Symptoms of carpal tunnel can include:

Pain or aching in your hand, fingers or arm

Numbness of the hand

Pins and needles or tingling in the affected hand

Weakness when gripping

Symptoms tend to be worse at night and may disturb your sleep, but you may also notice it most when you wake up in the morning.

Treatment options

Mild cases often get better without any treatment.

For mild to moderate cases of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), non-surgical treatments such as wrist splints and corticosteroid injections are often recommended.

Surgery is usually only recommended for severe cases of CTS when the symptoms last for more than six months or if other non-surgical treatment options have not been effective in relieving symptoms.

How might it affect work?

Most workers with carpal tunnel syndrome can continue working even if they have some residual or recurrent symptoms. The worker may require short term modifications to allow this. The symptoms vary widely from one individual to another, making generalisation difficult.

Employees may experience discomfort with some of the following tasks:

Lifting and carrying, as they may have a loss of grip strength

Undertaking repetitive tasks such as using a keyboard, mouse or writing

Undertaking tasks requiring fine movements, particularly if they are experiencing a loss of sensation

What do I need to do as the manager?

In the majority of cases the individual with CTS should be able to remain at work, although they may have short periods when the symptoms are so severe they are unable to work. Discuss the extent of the pain and loss of dexterity with your employee, specifically in respect of the tasks above and how they relate to work activities. Identify what tasks they can and cannot perform and the length of time that they can perform them. Where these can be reasonably accommodated you should modify their duties to enable them to continue at work. It is likely that even with modifications they will continue to experience some pain or discomfort. Their condition is likely to change so you should have a review with the employee every week. Make sure that they are able to cope with their duties and where possible increase their workload to help facilitate their return to work on full duties.

Key points to consider when managing an employee with carpal tunnel syndrome:

Focus on support, helping them to remain at work on modified duties

Employees do not need to be pain free before they return to work

In most cases symptoms should resolve in around 6 months

Modified duties should be a temporary measure and not normally last for more than 4 weeks

In cases of absence of more than 4 weeks, or difficulty in returning to normal duties after 4 weeks of modified duties, refer to Occupational Health for advice

If an individual requires surgery the length of time that they are absent may depend on the symptoms, the type of surgery that they have had, and the job role that they are returning to, please consult your occupational health provider for advice on a return to work plan.