Acupuncture for Post Operative Pain Following Total Knee or Hip Arthroplasty

Post operative pain (POP) is a major obstacle on the road to healing, despite the increasing interest in postoperative pain management and development of pain control modalities (1). Postoperative pain is still insufficiently treated with more than 50% of patients suffering from moderate to severe pain early after surgery .Pain after orthopedic surgery is considered especially difficult to manage. Approximately half of total knee or hip arthroplasty patients present with extreme pain immediately after surgery. Total knee and hip arthroplasty often results not only in severe perioperative pain and debilitation, but chronic pain, joint stiffness, and functional disability many months or even years following the procedure. Various modalities of treating orthopedic POP exist, but the optimal management of postoperative pain remains controversial with no clear consensus of the best method.We suggest that acupuncture can be an effective treatment for post operative pain after total knee or hip arthroplasty.