Postoperative Pain: From Management to Recovery

Most patients who undergo surgery will experience acute postoperative pain, making postoperative pain management an important topic. Pain management has shifted towards a multimodal approach and away from the traditional opioid administration due in part to the opioid crisis. As opioids came to be abused, with many starting after initially being prescribed opioids by their physician, the focus on how to manage pain changed. However, a multimodal approach also has benefits outside of decreasing use of opioids such as targeting multiple pathways of pain to lead to more favorable outcomes for patients. A multimodal approach does not consist of the same approach for each patient. It gives the ability to tailor the pain management approach to the patient and the type of surgery. In this textbook, the approach to postoperative pain management for different surgeries will be highlighted. The different modalities used for a multimodal approach will be defined with their underlying pathophysiology explained. This textbook will give a basic understanding of how the combination of multiple medications often results in superior outcomes, with better patient satisfaction and often lower doses being required due the additive effects of different pathways being targeted.