Objective: There are multiple post-operative pain protocols for patients who undergo total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Post-operative analgesia with opioids or epidural analgesia has its side effect. We compared the duration of hospital stay, pain score, and range of motion of a control group who had no local infiltration with a group who had local infiltration analgesia following TKA.
Methods: Randomization was done in 60 patients who underwent TKA in two groups, one who did not receive and the other who received a multimodal cocktail periarticular injection containing 30 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine, 1 ml of 30 mg ketorolac, 1 ml of 1 in 1000 adrenaline, 2 ml of 80 mg gentamycin, 5 ml of 750 mg cefuroxime, and rest 0.9% of normal saline. Visual analog score (VAS) for pain at rest was recorded and assessed preoperatively and postoperatively at 2, 6, 12, 24, 36 h, 2, 3, and 7 days and during an activity at 24 h, 36 h, 2, 3, and 7 days.
Results: The patient who had received the local injection used very few analgesics over the first 24 h of surgery. Moreover, patients, where local infiltration was used, showed lower VAS for pain (at rest and during activity). They also showed higher VAS for patients’ satisfaction.
Conclusion: Due to the reduced post-operative pain with periarticular injection analgesia, it was observed that the pain and duration of hospital stay were significantly reduced.
Electrical stimulation effect on extensor lag and duration of hospital stay after total knee arthroplasty
