In two new studies from Mayo Clinic, researchers found a pain management regimen without opioids offered the same pain relief as common prescription opioids,
Opioids can help people manage pain, but they can be addictive.
Nationwide, opioid prescriptions rose from 76 million in 1990 to a peak of 255 million in 2012. Between 1990 and 2017, deaths related to opioids increased sixfold.
The challenge for surgeons is to minimize opioid use while optimizing patients’ pain control after surgery.
Orthopedic and spine conditions account for about 3 in 10 opioid prescriptions, so surgeons can significantly decrease opioid-related deaths by limiting opioid prescriptions.
In the studies, the team created an approach to managing pain that eliminated opioids after common sports surgeries.
In the first study, participants had undergone knee surgery to reconstruct their ACL. In the second study, participants had undergone surgery to repair their rotator cuff. All received a nerve block before surgery.
In each study, one group of participants received a standard opioid regimen to manage pain. The other group took part in a pain management approach without opioids.
The nonopioid regimen included pain relievers, nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs and muscle relaxants.
Both studies found that the nonopioid regimen provided at least the same if not more pain control and patient satisfaction, compared with the standard opioid regimen.
In both studies, the most common side effects were drowsiness, dizziness and gastrointestinal symptoms.
In the rotator cuff study, participants who received the nonopioid regimen reported slightly lesser side effects than those who received the opioid regimen.
The team says one way Mayo Clinic is working to limit opioids is offering patients alternatives to traditional pain management.
it is effective in common sports surgeries. The plan is to implement it in other surgeries and hopefully decrease the opioid burden worldwide.
If you care about pain management, please read studies about common painkiller for headaches that can harm blood pressure, and new way to provide pain relief without side effects, and
For more information about pain management, please see recent studies about pain medication that may increase your hip fracture risk, and results showing that her pain seemed muscular. It was actually a heart attack.
The study findings are published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic & Related Surgery and was conducted by Kelechi Okoroha et al.
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