Description

The opioid epidemic continues to create a lasting impact on society, leading researchers to focus on ways to decrease opioid prescription rates and subsequently, opioid consumption. Opioid-naïve patients undergoing minor to major surgeries have been shown statistically to be largely affected.1 This includes significant numbers resulting from forefoot surgery specifically with around 6.2% of the mentioned population being at risk for new persistent opioid use.

This has provoked researchers to seek a new route that decreases exposure to opioid use through proposals for multimodal pain regimes.

A recent addition to some of these proposed treatments has been a 6-day low-dose oral methylprednisolone taper beginning on the day of surgery. This has been tested with "terrible triad" elbow injuries, distal radius fractures, and total shoulder arthroplasties with promising results showing decreased consumption of the as-needed opioid prescription. Furthermore, the results of these studies show a significant decrease in pain and increased range of motion following surgery. This is likely due to the anti-inflammatory functioning of glucocorticoids, without inhibiting the healing process.

Based upon the findings stated above, the proposed research will attempt to apply this new pain regime to foot and ankle surgeries, specifically forefoot, ankle, and Achilles surgeries, to take another step towards bettering perioperative care with opioid-free treatment