Acupuncture and Its Place in Postoperative Pain Management
Postoperative pain is a result of surgical trauma and remains a major challenge to most healthcare providers. About 75 percent of patients in most health care centers may either experience severe or moderate pain after having surgery (Lu & Lu, 2013). Postoperative pain is normally treated using opioid analgesics, including fentanyl, morphine, meperidine, and hydromorphine (Lu & Lu, 2013). However, such drugs are associated with undesirable side effects to patients, which can slow down the rate of recovery. Common side effects include: decreased gut motility, nausea, sedation, and vomiting (Lu & Lu, 2013; Wu, et al., 2016). Using customized strategies in analgesic administration results in improved pain control to patients (Lu & Lu, 2013). For instance, patient controlled analgesia is used to decrease the use of opioid analgesics. Because some patients do not respond well to drug therapy or its side effects, health care providers should recommend acupuncture as an alternative for safely managing postoperative pain.
Opioids that have a short period of analgesic activity have more disadvantages than advantages. According to Clark (2012), the medications are supposed to be taken several times in a day, causing interference to daily activities carried out by a patient. Additionally, with application of opioids, it is quite difficult to achieve analgesia. Some of the side effects of using opioids include vomiting as a result of using CR morphine and constipation, which is associated with CR oxycodone (Clark, 2012). Moreover, Clark (2012) notes that opioids are not regularly prescribed because they may lead to cognitive impairments, especially to the elderly. It is important to note that elderly patients using opioids are more prone to delirium than young patients. Nonetheless, the performance of hydromorphine is poorer than that of morphine (Groppetti, et al., 2011). The metabolites of opioids that are excreted by the kidney increase toxicity to the body (Clark, 2012). Further, if opioids are used for a long time, they change how nerve cells work leading to dependence on opioids such that when they are eliminated, the patient develops unpleasant reactions and feelings from withdrawal (Groppetti, et al., 2011). Therefore, despite their wide use, opioids have been shown to have adverse side effects when used in managing pain for postoperative patients.
Conversely, acupuncture has over the years become a common medicine in pain management. Acupuncture refers to a type of treatment that is derived from Chinese medicine (Chon & Lee, 2014). Several studies have shown that it is safe in comparison to routine care (Chon & Lee, 2014; Patil, et al., 2016). In this type of treatment, an individual is inserted with tiny needles at specific parts of the body for preventative or therapeutic purposes (Cho, et al., 2015; Patil, et al., 2016). The method is used in many hospices and pain clinics in different parts of the world. Most people view acupuncture as a form of alternative medicine to opioids used in the treatment of a wide range of health conditions. For example, it may be used in the treatment of migraines, lower back pain, and severe headaches (Patil, et al., 2016). It is also used in the treatment of musculoskeletal conditions and different types of pain such as dental pain, postoperative pain, and joint pain (Chon & Lee, 2014). Thus, with its universal use, acupuncture offers an alternative option to pain management for postoperative patients.
Research shows that treatment using acupuncture methods has negligible adverse effects as opposed to medical procedures and prescribed medications adopted to treat similar health conditions (Garcia, et al., 2013). Most of the side effects from acupuncture? only last for a short time and may include: visual changes, headaches, and dry mouth (Patil, et al., 2013). The same effects are manageable to individuals.
Effectiveness of Acupuncture
According to a study conducted by Groppetti et al. (2011), the use of acupuncture is more effective than application of opioids. The findings showed that acupuncture is an effective technique of providing analgesia as compared to opioids. Acupuncture provides prolonged analgesia and does not need further medication as opposed to opioids. It was found out that acupuncture could be used as a preventive medication (Groppetti, et al., 2011). Thus, these properties not only make it a better option in postoperative pain management but also a viable alternative to opioids.
Universality of Acupuncture
Moreover, application of acupuncture in treatment can be used to any age group and on patients with diverse characteristics. According to Garcia, et al. (2013), the elderly, children, and adults can use this pain management method since it is safe and does not cause significant harm to patients. Additionally, the application of acupuncture in treatment can be done without causing interference to other types of ongoing medications and treatment (Garcia, et al., 2013). Therefore, given the side effects of opioids, acupuncture offers an alternative solution to reduction of common side effects that high levels of opioids may cause to patients with postoperative pain. Nice wrap up
Counterargument
Although most patients accept the risks associated with the consequences of being pierced by small needles for acupuncture, other adverse effects should also be considered. The first risk is the danger of infection. Several cases have been documented where patients receiving treatment through acupuncture contract hepatitis and other diseases (Lu & Lu, 2013). The Hepatology journal documented that thirty-five out of three hundred and sixty-six patients contracted hepatitis B in a clinic based in America (Lu & Lu, 2013). The infections were mainly caused by re-using unsterilized needles. The other problem is that using alcoholic solutions to store used needles is not sufficient to sterilize needles. As a result, hepatitis viruses, among others, are transmitted once the same needles are reused to a different patient (Lu & Lu, 2013). The other adverse effect of using needles in acupuncture is that they may puncture a major organ or nerve (Patil, et al., 2016). In some instances, the puncture becomes extremely painful to the patients. For instance, needling the base of an individual’s skull may lead to serious consequences such as brain damage (Chon & Lee, 2014). Thus, even with its inherent benefits, acupuncture has challenges that require proper management and assessment of the patient to avoid severe side effects.
Refutation
Acupuncture is a reasonable treatment method for people suffering from chronic pain. Acupuncture helps ease different chronic pains such as neck pain, low-back pain, and osteoarthritis (Chon & Lee, 2014). The method should also be supported because it prevents migraine headaches and reduces the frequency of tension headaches . There are relatively few complications that have been reported so far about the use of acupuncture (Patil, et al., 2016) This means that the method is quite effective and should be considered for treatment and easing pain. The benefits of employing acupuncture are quite significant and definitely outweigh the setbacks as discussed above. As Patil et al. (2016) outline, the side effects of applying the treatment method are not quite harmful. Additionally, since the effects of applying acupuncture are short lived, if safety measures are strictly followed, then the method can be safe and effective. Furthermore, the side effects are rarely witnessed, showing that the method is quite safe (Patil et al., 2016). Therefore, acupuncture cannot be disregarded because its side effects can totally be avoided if safety precautions are taken.
Conclusion
the benefits of using acupuncture outweigh its few side effects and the inherent side effects of opioids, making it an alternative pain management option to opioids for postoperative patients. The adverse effects of using acupuncture are only experienced for a short time, with most of them lasting for a few minutes or hours. Further, it is safely used among patients with other treatment plans and diverse age groups. Since opioids have side effects such as vomiting after the using of CR morphine and constipation, using acupuncture as an alternative can improve the effectiveness of post-operative pain management for patients who choose not to or cannot use pain medication.
References
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