Effect of auricular point pressing therapy on postoperative pain of fracture: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Effectiveness and safety of auricular acupuncture on adjuvant analgesia in patients with total knee arthroplasty: a randomized sham-controlled trial

Objective

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of auricular acupuncture (AA) on postoperative analgesia, the degree of postoperative nausea, and the effect of inflammation after total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

Methods

This was a single-center, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial. In total, 96 patients were randomly divided into an AA group with an indwelling intradermal needle (n = 48) and a sham auricular acupuncture (SAA) group with a non-penetrating placebo needle (n = 48). Intra-spinal anesthesia was adopted in both groups during surgery, and an epidural analgesic pump was implanted after surgery for 48 h. The primary outcome was the post-surgery visual analog score (VAS) of resting and movement states (at 6, 12 h and 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 days). The secondary outcomes included additional doses of analgesic injection during the treatment, C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and white blood cell (WBC) count on the 1st, 3rd, and 7th day after the operation, nausea on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd day after the operation, the Hospital for Special Surgery Knee Score (HSS) on the 2nd and 12th week after the operation, and adverse events.

Results

The VAS in the AA group at 6 h, 12 h, 2, 3, and 5 days after surgery were lower than those of the SAA group (p < 0.05). Among the secondary outcomes, the total dose of additional analgesic injection after surgery in the AA group was lower than that in the SAA group (p < 0.05). The serum CRP on the 1st day after operation in the AA group was lower than that in the SAA group (p < 0.05). The degree of nausea on 2nd day after surgery in the AA group was lower than that in the SAA group (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in other outcomes (p > 0.05).

Conclusion

In this study, AA was shown to be an effective and safe complementary and alternative therapy for pain relief after TKA, which was able to reduce the total postoperative dose of additional painkillers, decrease serum CRP 1 day after surgery, and improve the degree of postoperative nausea.

Clinical trial registration

www.chictr.org.cn, ChiCTR2100054403.

Effects of Multimodal Analgesia Combined with Auricular Point Therapy on Physical and Mental Stress and Rehabilitation Quality of Patients with Meniscus Injury during the Perioperative Period

Objective

To investigate the effect of multimodal analgesia combined with auricular point therapy on physical and mental stress and rehabilitation quality of patients with meniscus injury during the perioperative period.

Methods

148 patients in our hospital from October 2019 to October 2021 who were scheduled to undergo meniscus surgery were selected and grouped according to the order of file establishment, with 74 cases in each. The control group was given routine analgesia, and the observation group was given multimodal analgesia combined with auricular point therapy. The pain level (visual analogue scale (VAS)), physical and mental stress (heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), depression scale (PHQ-9), and anxiety scale (GAD-7)), complications, rehabilitation quality, and analgesia satisfaction were observed.

Results

The VAS scores of pain in the observation group were lower than those in the control group at 6 hours before operation and at 6 hours, 24 hours, and 72 hours after operation (P < 0.05). The MAP, HR, PHQ-9, and GAD-7 scores of the observation group were lower than those of the control group 6 hours before operation (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in MAP, HR, PHQ-9, and GAD-7 scores between the two groups at 6 hours and 24 hours after operation (P > 0.05). The analgesic satisfaction of the observation group was better than that of the control group (P < 0.05). The incidence of complications in the observation group was 8.11% compared with 12.16% in the control group, which was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). The first exhaust, getting out of bed, and hospital stay in the observation group were shorter than those in the control group (P < 0.05).

Conclusion

Multimodal analgesia combined with auricular acupuncture therapy is effective in perioperative patients with meniscus injury. It can reduce perioperative pain, reduce physical and mental stress, and promote early postoperative recovery through a variety of analgesic mechanisms.