Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common condition caused by compression of the median nerve. Patients usually present with numbness and pain along the distribution of the median nerve in the hand. We report 2 cases of carpal tunnel syndrome successfully treated with kakkonto after their pattern diagnosis. We treated a 57-year-­old women and a 59-­year-­old man. Two patients presented with hand pain and numbness and were diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. Kakkonto treatment was successfully in two cases. We observed that median nerve compression persisted in these patients even after disappearance of numbness and pain ; therefore, we recommended operative management. The 2 patients underwent an operation for carpal tunnel syndrome. Kakkonto can be considered useful palliative treatment before considering operative management for numbness and pain in the patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common orthopedic disease. Western medicine treatments for carpal tunnel syndrome include conservative drug treatments, temporary external fixations, and operative treatments. Cases of patients being treated with Kampo medicine have been reported. The patient was an 80-year-old woman, who visited our clinic because of numbness in her right hand. She was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. She was administrated with a Kampo medicine, keishito. After 7 days, her symptoms were relieved, and after 14 days her symptoms had resolved. We could not find any reports showing that keishito was effective in treating carpal tunnel syndrome. We believe that her symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome were caused by eiefuwa (nutrient-defense disharmony) and were successfully treated with keishito.