Articles: pain-management-methods.
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Most total knee arthroplasty (TKA) recipients experience pain following the procedure. Patients are provided with medications to manage pain but there is little information regarding their usage of analgesics after hospital discharge. This study investigated analgesic usage in recent TKA recipients. ⋯ Patient modifications to medication regimens are often labeled as patient nonadherence; however, participants in this study considered their actions to be adaptive. This conceptual distinction has practical implications for healthcare providers. These findings emphasize the importance of having TKA patients develop their pain management regimen in conjunction with healthcare providers so that regimens can be tailored to individual needs.
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Endogenous cannabinoids and peripheral cannabinoid CB2 receptors (CB2Rs) are involved in the antinociceptive effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on inflammatory pain. However, it is not clear how CB2R activation contributes to the antinociceptive effect of EA. The major proinflammatory cytokines, such as tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-6, are involved in inflammatory pain. ⋯ Furthermore, EA or AM1241 treatment significantly decreased the mRNA and protein levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α in inflamed skin tissues. In addition, pretreatment with AM630 significantly reversed the inhibitory effect of EA on these cytokine levels in inflamed skin tissues. Our results suggest that EA reduces inflammatory pain and proinflammatory cytokines in inflamed skin tissues through activation of CB2Rs.