How to Prepare for Endoscopic Carpal Tunnel Surgery

Surgery is often the final treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome. If all other treatments have been ineffective for at least a year, your doctor may suggest endoscopic surgery for your condition. It is important to prepare for endoscopic carpal tunnel surgery even though it is less invasive than other types of surgery. Read on to learn how to prepare for endoscopic carpal tunnel surgery.

Instructions

• 1

  Find out if your doctor is going to be using local or general anesthetics. The former only numbs the area of the operation while the latter puts you to sleep for the duration of the surgery. General anesthetics have a much stricter guide for preparation than local anesthetics, so it's important that you know which you are going to have.

• 2

  Talk to your boss about taking time off. If your surgery is going to be on your dominant hand and you do lots of work with your hands at your job, you might be out for up to four weeks. If you are having surgery on your non-dominant hand and your job involves little handwork, you could be back in as little as two days.

• 3

  Look into the kinds of medicines you will be taking during recovery. You need to be extra sure that you aren't allergic to any of these medications.

• 4

  Find a physical therapist. Post-surgery physical therapy is very important to recovering your hand strength and movement. Your doctor might be able to suggest some good therapists. The ideal physical therapist will be someone that you like, but also someone who well versed in hand and wrist physical therapy. You'll probably be going to physical therapy once or twice a week for one to two months.

• 5

  Talk to your surgeon and find out if he is doing a single-portal or two-portal surgery. Endoscopic surgery involves the insertion of a small tube with a camera into your wrist. The surgeon will either insert the tube through an incision in your wrist or incisions in your wrist and palm. It's important to understand exactly how your surgery will be done.