[Research progress on early postoperative pain management strategies after arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction]

Objective

To summarize the early postoperative pain management strategies for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), and to select a reasonable and effective pain management plan to promote functional rehabilitation after ACLR.

Methods

The literature about the early postoperative pain management strategies of ACLR both domestically and internationally in recent years was extensiverly reviewed, and the effects of improving postoperative pain were reviewed.

Results

Currently, physical therapy and oral medication have advantages such as economy and simplicity, but the effect of improving postoperative pain is not satisfactory, often requires a combination of intravenous injection or intravenous pump, which is also a common way to relieve pain. However, in order to meet the analgesic needs of patients, the amount of analgesic drugs used is often large, which increases the incidence of various adverse reactions. Local infiltration analgesia (LIA), including periarticular or intra-articular injection of drugs, can significantly improve the early postoperative pain of ACLR, and achieve similar postoperative effectiveness as nerve block. LIA can be used as an analgesic technique instead of nerve block, and avoid the corresponding weakness of innervated muscles caused by nerve block, which increases the risk of postoperative falls. Many studies have confirmed that LIA can alleviate postoperative early pain in ACLR, especially the analgesic effects of periarticular injection are more satisfactory. It can also avoid the risk of cartilage damage caused by intra-articular injection. However, the postoperative analgesic effect and timeliness still need to be improved. It is possible to consider combining multimodal mixed drug LIA (combined with intra-articular and periarticular) with other pain intervention methods to exert a synergistic effect, in order to avoid the side effects and risks brought by single drugs or single administration route. LIA is expected to become one of the most common methods for relieving postoperative early pain in ACLR.

Conclusion

Early pain after arthroscopic ACLR still affects the further functional activities of patients, and all kinds of analgesic methods can achieve certain effectiveness, but there is no unified standard at present, and the advantages and disadvantages of various analgesic methods need further research.