Opioid abuse is a national epidemic. Traditional pain management after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) relied heavily on opioids. The evidence that in-hospital multimodal pain management (MMPM) is more effective than opioid-only analgesia is overwhelming. There has been little focus on post-discharge pain management. The purpose of this study was to determine whether MMPM after TKA could reduce opioid consumption in the 30-day period after hospital discharge. This was a prospective, two-arm, comparative study with a provider cross-over design. The first arm utilized a standard opioid-only (OO) prn regimen. The second arm utilized a 30-day MMPM regimen (standing doses of acetaminophen, metaxalone, meloxicam, gabapentin) and opioid medications prn. Surgeons crossed over protocols every four weeks. The primary outcome measure was VAS pain score. Secondary outcome measures included morphine milligram equivalents (MME) consumed, failure of the protocol, and manipulation under anesthesia (MUA). A pre-hoc power analysis was performed for the primary outcome measure and an intent-to-treat analysis was done utilizing a longitudinal mixed model.Introduction
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