The following post has been supplied by our 417 Sports Medicine and Orthopedics: Eric M Gifford, MD IOVERA sports medicine physician. It explains what the IOVERA procedure does and how it can help when undergoing a knee replacement operation.
Knee replacement is well known for being a painful orthopedic surgery. In fact, most patients will often delay this surgery due to the anticipated pain of recovery. Knee replacement is considered physical therapy intensive, and the long-term outcome and function of the knee will depend on the patient’s progress in therapy. The good news, however, is there is now an option available that will ease the pain of recovery. In a time where opiate use is a hot topic, we need to look into non-opiate options to treat post-operative pain. These can include non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, ice, elevation, and now IOVERA.
IOVERA is a procedure that can be done in our office 5 – 7 days before surgery, which will help to ease the pain during recovery. The treatment targets two sensory nerves and will block them from sending pain signals. The effect is immediate and lasts for up to 150 days. Clinical studies have compared patients treated with IOVERA to ones that were not treated and found many patients requested less narcotic pain medications, had more function, and lower pain scores during their recovery period. They also reported less stiffness after the surgery.
The entire procedure takes around 20-30 minutes and is generally tolerated well by patients. Even though there is some discomfort during the procedure, the pain is resolved by the end of the treatment. There will often be some localized bruising or discomfort at the treatment site for around 3 days following the procedure; however, no other significant side effects were noted.
In summary, if you would like to learn about the services and products we have to offer you and you are looking for a sports medicine physician in the Springfield, MO area, please do not hesitate to call us at (417) 771-3147 today.
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