I had the surgery back in 1975 and have not had any trouble with my hand. Carpal tunnel is not a inflammation problem your wrist has a tunnel there the nerves go from your arm to your hands. The nerves get pinched from using your hands in wrong position in mild cases the shot of cortisone can help, but you can only had so many as cortisone stays in your body. Yes the nerve test is the let the doctor know just how much damages there is to the nerves I thought that was the worst part the surgery was a piece of cake and I had it done back when you stay in the hospital a couple of days. It sounded like some of the gals here had a problem with the tendons in their arm which is a inflammation problem there your arm and wrist hurt very badly there is a surgery for it in really bad cases, but with time it can be heal with meds and braces.