Acute Pain: Post-operative pain

Postoperative pain management aims to minimize patient discomfort, facilitate early mobilization and functional recovery, and prevent acute pain developing into chronic pain.

Mental health can affect a patient’s recovery and psychological vulnerability is predictive of severe postoperative pain. Education before surgery reduces anxiety and improves patient satisfaction.

The choice of analgesia depends on the type of surgery the patient is having. Using procedure-specific pain guidelines within an enhanced rehabilitation program is recommended.

Different types of analgesia can be combined for additive or synergistic pain relief. Regional analgesic techniques are being increasingly incorporated into multi-modal analgesic regimens.