Perspectives and Practice in Eastern and Western Medicine for Pain Management in Rehabilitation Training after Orthopedic Trauma Surgery: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background

Despite the increasing emphasis on rehabilitation training after orthopedic surgery, little is known about the pain caused by the procedure itself. Clinical practice is driven by beliefs in pain management.

Aims

This study aimed to explore the perspective of pain management during rehabilitation training after orthopedic trauma in China and its influencing factors from different perspectives in traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, respectively.

Design

A phenomenological qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews.

Settings

Methods

A qualitative study was conducted with 16 medical workers working in the Rehabilitation Medicine Department in eastern China from July 2022-February 2023. A directed method to thematic analysis was used to code the transcribed data and identify themes.

Results

Four main themes emerged. (1) Inconsistent perspectives and practice: Chinese doctors majoring in Western medicine felt sympathy, helpless, and had a lack of knowledge and misconception about pain. Traditional Chinese medicine deemed that pain is a protective mechanism and attached importance to holism and unique means. (2) Consistent outcome: Insufficient pain management will have a series of negative consequences for patients’ recovery, forming a vicious cycle. (3) Expectations: Though they are not optimistic about traditional analgesics, enhancement, cooperation and ideal analgesic methods still be expressed, and (4) Concept transformation: Conducting nitrous oxide is a process not only to promote analgesic technology but also to promote the awareness and concept of pain management.

Conclusions

Our study emphasized that medical workers should be aware of the importance of pain management at the same time while treating the disability. The study provides insight into pain management experiences within different educational backgrounds. The findings enable professionals to recognize the importance of pain management and its influencing factors to provide feasible and effective pain management strategies.