Auricular Acupuncture for Pain Relief after Ambulatory Knee Arthroscopy—A Pilot Study
Open Access
- 1 January 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Hindawi Limited in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
- Vol. 2 (2), 185-189
- https://doi.org/10.1093/ecam/neh097
Abstract
Auricular acupuncture (AA) is effective in treating various pain conditions, but there have been no analyses of AA for the treatment of pain after ambulatory knee surgery. We assessed the range of analgesic requirements under AA after ambulatory knee arthroscopy. Twenty patients randomly received a true AA procedure (Lung, Shenmen and Knee points) or sham procedure (three non-acupuncture points on the auricular helix) before ambulatory knee arthroscopy. Permanent press AA needles were retainedin situfor one day after surgery. Post-operative pain was treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory ibuprofen, and weak oral opioid tramadol was used for rescue analgesic medication. The quantity of post-operative analgesics and pain intensity were used to assess the effect of AA. The incidence of analgesia-related side effects, time to discharge from the anesthesia recovery room, heart rate and blood pressure were also recorded. Ibuprofen consumption after surgery in the AA group was lower than in the control group: median 500 versus 800 mg,P= 0.043. Pain intensity on a 100 mm visual analogue scale for pain measurement and other parameters were similar in both groups. Thus AA might be useful in reducing the post-operative analgesic requirement after ambulatory knee arthroscopy.Keywords
This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit:
- Auricular acupuncture for pain relief after total hip arthroplasty – a randomized controlled studyPain, 2005
- Neurobiology of Acupuncture: Toward CAMEvidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2004
- Optimising postoperative pain management in the ambulatory patient.Drugs, 2003
- Detection of Ear Acupuncture Points by Measuring the Electrical Skin Resistance in Patients Before, During and After Orthopedic Surgery Performed under General AnesthesiaAcupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics Research, 2003
- The management of pain following day‐case surgeryAnaesthesia, 2002
- The CONSORT Statement: Revised Recommendations for Improving the Quality of Reports of Parallel-Group Randomized TrialsAnnals of Internal Medicine, 2001
- [The effectiveness of auricular micro-needle acupuncture in the early postoperative period under conditions of day surgical unit].2000
- Experimental Pain in Healthy Human SubjectsAnesthesia & Analgesia, 1998
- A Multicenter Study of Bispectral Electroencephalogram Analysis for Monitoring Anesthetic EffectAnesthesia & Analgesia, 1997
- Diffuse noxious inhibitory controls (DNIC). I. Effects on dorsal horn convergent neurones in the ratPain, 1979