Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a medical disorder where the median nerve is squeezed in the wrist, causing paresthesia, numbness, and muscular weakness in the hand. The goal of treating CTS is to relieve the pressure on the median nerve. Exercise treatment is now one of the most effective ways to manage CTS. But there is a scarcity of evidence for the effectiveness of different exercise protocols.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of flexor tendon gliding exercises versus forearm stretching in improving hand function among CTS patients.

Methodology: A Clinical trial was carried out  on 54 CTS patients, included in this investigation by using simple random sampling technique. Subjects were selected who met the inclusion criteria. Then they were assigned into two Experimental groups. Group 1 were instructed to perform TGE while Forearm stretching were administered to group 2 (10 repetition twice a day) for six weeks. Patients were evaluated by using diagnostic measures, Goniometry ,BCTQ,VAS for assessment of WFROM and WEROM,FSS,SSS and pain intensity respectively before the interventions and after 6 weeks of  follow up. Data were entered and analyzed through , Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 . Levene’s test for homogeneity, Independent samples T- test and paired samples T- test were applied. All results were calculated at 95% interval of confidence and p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered as a significant value.

Results: Pre-post analysis showed that there were significant improvement in CTS patients After applying both interventions t-test analysis compared means between intervention groups . t-value,df p–value mean difference and 95% confidence interval of the difference  with LL-UL for  Post Wrist flexion Range of Motion were -2.15, 38.16, 0.03*,-4.45,(-8.62- 0.26) respectively as( p<0.05)that showed statistically significant  difference in mean between both group in improving  wrist flexion range.

Conclusion: Our study concluded that both Flexor tendon gliding exercise and Fore arm stretching proved equally effective in reducing  pain, ,symptoms severity, improving function status,and WEROM. In contrast to Tendon gliding exercise, Fore arm stretching contributed more beneficial impact  in  improving wrist flexion range of motion .

Keywords: Carpal tunnel syndrome, Tendon gliding exercise, Fore-arm stretching,