Neuropathic pain in patients with compression-ischemic neuropathy of the upper limb: diagnosis and assessment of the effectiveness of rehabilitation measures

The purpose of the work is to assess the severity of neuropathic pain and determine the effectiveness of rehabilitation measures in people with compression-ischemic neuropathy of the upper limb in the subacute period. Material and methods. Analysis and synthesis of literature data, visual analogue pain scale (VAS), DN4 questionnaire for diagnosing the nature of pain, rehabilitation examination, methods of mathematical statistics. The study involved 73 patients with compression-ischemic neuropathy of the upper limb. Patients were divided into 2 groups: the main (37 people) and control (36 people). The duration of the disease ranged from 3 to 18 months. The age of the examined ranged from 18 to 57 years, an average of 39.4±6.7 years. Results. At the initial examination, we found that in patients of both groups, carpal tunnel syndrome was diagnosed more often than other tunnel syndromes. In patients of the main and control groups, VAS indicators were above average (6.62 ± 0.21 and 6.58 ± 0.18 points, respectively). No significant difference between the groups was found (p> 0.05). In patients of the main group, we used the following rehabilitation measures: kinesitherapy with neurodynamic mobilization, taping, apparatus physiotherapy and mechanotherapy procedures. Patients in the control group were engaged in a standard rehabilitation program - physical exercises, apparatus physiotherapy, mechanotherapy. Upon repeated examination by YOUR, a decrease in pain was observed in both groups, however, in the main group, the severity of pain was significantly lower than in the control group (p <0.001). Conclusions. The study confirmed that the inclusion of kinesitherapy with neurodynamic mobilization, taping, apparatus physiotherapy and mechanotherapy in the complex treatment of copression-ischemic neuropathies of the upper limb contributed to a significant reduction in pain in patients of the main group compared with the control group, in which the standard rehabilitation program was used.