Search Method

Searched PubMed, CINAHL, and EMBASE for combinations of these concepts:

• Pain – etiology, drug therapy, prevention and control
• Postoperative period or postoperative care
• Rehabilitation OR physical therapy OR physiotherapy
• Factors that interfere with rehabilitation (looked for these terms:  interfere* OR delay* OR prohibit*)
• Arthroplasty/rehabilitation
• Comparative study or clinical trial or cohort study or prospective study

Search Results
One article differentiated between pain associated with surgery and other pain:
Wittig Wells, Deborah R, Susan EShapiro, and Melinda KHiggins. “Patients’ experiences of pain in the 48 hours following total knee arthroplasty.” Orthopedic nursing 32.1 (2013):39-44.

View a selected collection of other studies on postoperative care of arthroplasty patients in this PubMed collection.

Reviewed and updated 4/30/2014 ldt