Do complementary therapies reduce pain after knee arthroscopy
Searches
CINHAL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, AMED, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) databases to be searched using the keywords "arthroscopy" and "knee", or variations of them.
Limitations to the English language, and clinical trials applied to search engines.
Types of study to be included
Randomised controlled trials.
Condition or domain being studied
Analgesia in patients who have received arthroscopic knee surgery.
Participants/ population
Inclusion: Adults (over 18 years) who have had knee arthroscopy.
Intervention(s), exposure(s)
Any complementary therepy given to relieve pain. This includes, but is not limited to, homeopathy and acupuncture.
Comparator(s)/ control
Non-exposed control group.
Context
It is expected that all studies will be completed within specialist orthopaedic units. This, however, will not necessarily exclude a study.
Outcome(s)
Primary outcomes
Pain relief.
The effect measures will be any validated scale (e.g. the Visual Analoge Scale) used to measure pain.
Secondary outcomes
Adverse events.
Analgesic use (as a surrogate for pain relief).
Time to discharge.
Outcomes in the immediate post operative period, and at least until discharge will be included.
Data extraction, (selection and coding)
Titles and/or abstracts of studies retrieved using the search strategy and those from additional sources will be screened independently by two review authors to identify studies that potentially meet the inclusion criteria outlined above. The full text of these potentially eligible studies will be retrieved and independently assessed for eligibility by two review team members. Any disagreement between them over the eligibility of particular studies will be resolved through discussion with a third reviewer.
A standardised,form will be used to extract data from the included studies for assessment of study quality and evidence synthesis. Extracted information will include: study population; details of the intervention; details of the comparitor; study methodology; outcomes and times of measurement; information for assessment of the risk of bias. Two review authors will extract data independently, discrepancies will be identified and resolved through discussion (with a third author where necessary).
Risk of bias (quality) assessment
The JADAD scale will be used to quality assess the included studies. This process will be completed by two independant reviewers and any discprepancies will be resolved by discussion (witha a third author where necessary).
Strategy for data synthesis
A narrative review with descriptive statistics is planned.
Analysis of subgroups or subsets
Different complementary therapies (e.g. acupuncture and homeopathy) will be explored as subgroups if there is the necessary data available.
Dissemination plans
To aid dissemination in the orthopaedic community this review will be submitted for publication to an internationally recognised journal, and to international conference(s).
Contact details for further information
Timothy Barlow
38 Charter Approach
Warwick
CV34 6AE
timbarlow@doctors.org.uk
Organisational affiliation of the review
none
Review team
Mr Timothy Barlow, Warwick Medical School Mr Christopher Downham, University Hospitals of Covnetry and Warwickshire Mr David Barlow, University Hopital of Stoke
Formal screening of search results against eligibility criteria
Data extraction
Risk of bias (quality) assessment
Data analysis
Prospective meta-analysis
PROSPERO This information has been provided by the named contact for this review. CRD has accepted this information in good faith and registered the review in PROSPERO. CRD bears no responsibility or liability for the content of this registration record, any associated files or external websites.
