You are here

  • Home
  • Archive
  • Volume 45, Issue 6
  • Integrating complementary medicine in the perioperative period: a simple, opioid-sparing addition to your multimodal analgesia strategy?

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Daring discourse
Integrating complementary medicine in the perioperative period: a simple, opioid-sparing addition to your multimodal analgesia strategy?
  1. Deirdre C Kelleher1,
  2. Meghan A Kirksey1,2,
  3. Christopher L Wu1,2 and
  4. Stephanie I Cheng1,2
  1. 1 Department of Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
  2. 2 Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Management, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, New York, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Deirdre C Kelleher, Department of Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA; dck7002{at}med.cornell.edu

Abstract

The current US opioid health-related crisis underscores the importance for perioperative physicians to optimize various approaches to pain management. Multimodal techniques and enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols are frequently cited as the most effective strategies for improving the experience of pain and reducing opioid exposure. Complementary medicine (CM) techniques, while frequently shown to be effective at reducing opioid and other pharmacologic agent use, are rarely discussed as part of these multimodal strategies. In general, CM therapies are low-cost with minimal associated risk, making them an ideal choice for incorporation into ERAS and other opioid-sparing protocols. In this Daring Discourse, we discuss the benefits and challenges of incorporating CM therapy into anesthetic practice. We hope that anesthesiologists can become more familiar with the current evidence regarding perioperative CM therapy, and begin incorporating these therapies as part of their comprehensive multimodal approach to perioperative pain management.

  • alternative therapies
  • acute pain
  • postoperative pain
  • opioids, adverse effects

https://doi.org/10.1136/rapm-2019-100947

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Twitter @MiniMDKelleher, @MAKatHSS, @ChrisWuMD, @StephChengMD

    • Contributors All authors have made substantial contributions to the conception of this work, drafting and revising it critically for important intellectual content, and have given final approval of the version published. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved, with DCK being the corresponding author.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.