Open AccessAcupuncture Provides Short‐Term Pain Relief for Patients in a Total Joint Replacement Program
Author(s) -
Crespin Daniel J.,
Griffin Kristen H.,
Johnson Jill R.,
Miller Cynthia,
Finch Michael D.,
Rivard Rachael L.,
Anseth Scott,
Dusek Jeffery A.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
pain medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.893
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1526-4637
pISSN - 1526-2375
DOI - 10.1111/pme.12685
Subject(s) - medicine , acupuncture , odds ratio , confidence interval , physical therapy , joint pain , joint replacement , osteoarthritis , anesthesia , surgery , arthroplasty , alternative medicine , pathology
Objective Given the risks of opioid medications, nonpharmacological strategies should be considered for total joint replacement patients. We investigated acupuncture as an adjunct therapy for postsurgical pain management in a total joint replacement program by examining which total hip and knee replacement patients elected to receive acupuncture and the effect of acupuncture on short‐term pain. Design A total joint replacement program using fast‐track physiotherapy offered elective postsurgical acupuncture to all patients, at no additional cost, as an adjunct therapy to opioids for pain management. Setting The Joint Replacement Center at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, a 630‐bed teaching and specialty hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 2010 to 2012. Subjects Our sample included 2,500 admissions of total hip (THR) and total knee replacement (TKR) patients. Methods Self‐reported pain was assessed before and after acupuncture using a 0–10 scale and categorized as none/mild (0–4) and moderate/severe pain (5–10). Results Seventy‐five percent of admissions included acupuncture. Women (Odds Ratio: 1.48, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.22, 1.81) had higher odds of receiving acupuncture compared to men, and nonwhite patients (Odds Ratio: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.78) had lower odds of receiving acupuncture compared to white patients. Average short‐term pain reduction was 1.91 points (95% CI: 1.83, 1.99), a 45% reduction from the mean prepain score. Forty‐one percent of patients reported moderate/severe pain prior to receiving acupuncture, while only 15% indicated moderate/severe pain after acupuncture. Conclusions Acupuncture may be a viable adjunct to pharmacological approaches for pain management after THR or TKR.