Knee pain

Knee pain care: Goals & guidelines

Taking care of pain before and after any surgery is critical to your recovery. Here are goals and guidelines produced by experts working for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Goals

✓ To reduce incidence and severity of patient’s pain
✓ To educate patient about the need to report pain so that it can be treated
✓ To enhance patient comfort and satisfaction
✓ To reduce postoperative complications

Guidelines

✓ Create and work as a team, including surgical,
anesthesiology and nursing specialists as well as the patient and his or her family.
✓ Establish clear lines of responsibility for pain management.
✓ Craft a pain management plan for each patient before surgery.
✓ Assess the patient’s pain frequently and adjust pain control.
✓ Explore both drug and non-drug therapies. Drug management can include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), opioids, patient-controlled analgesia and spinal analgesia. Non-drug treatment can include cognitive-behavioral approaches (relaxation, distraction and imagery), physical therapy (massage, exercise or application of heat and cold), or electroanalgesia such as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS).

LABELS:
Lateral collateral
Lateral meniscus
Posterior cruciate
Anterior cruciate
Medial collateral
Patellar
(knee cap removed)
Tibia
Fibula
Major ligaments
Femur
Medial meniscus
Right knee joint

Text and illustrations by Kevin T. Boyd

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Acupressure for knee pain
Here is a list of acupressure points for Knee pain on PointFinder.org. You may also want to try the points for Leg pain
If this is your first time, please read the instructions. Don’t use acupressure to replace standard emergency procedures or licensed medical treatment. If you are seriously injured or have acute symptoms seek urgent medical treatment.

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