The importance of pain control

Pain has a strong impact upon patient quality of life. Indeed, pain is so important that it has been proposed as another vital sign⁽¹⁾. However, despite this and the fact that pain is the most common cause of consultation in Traumatology, it remains a largely neglected issue⁽²⁾

The great majority of pre- and postoperative assessment scales used in application to all joints include pain as an item that should be scored. This makes it clear that our outcomes depend to one degree or other on the pre-, intra- and postoperative pain experienced by our patients⁽³⁾.

The monograph that has come to you, kindly sponsored by Grünenthal, is the first of this kind, and is addressed to those professionals interested in the management of perioperative pain in the context of arthroscopy. Since arthroscopic procedures are minimally invasive, they cause less pain than the open surgeries performed not so long ago to treat the same disease conditions — though they are not without pain.

This number of the journal is the result of the efforts of many authors, and I wish to thank them for their implication and dedication in describing in a manuscript how to assess and treat perioperative pain in each of the anatomical joints in which they are experts. Their exceptional work undoubtedly deserves to be published.

I hope you enjoy the publication.

Dr. Santos Moros Marco
Associated Editor of REACA
Upper Limb Unit. Hospital MAZ Zaragoza
Arthrosport. Zaragoza (Spain)

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Dr. Santos Moros Marco. Associated Editor of REACA