Tramadol Provides Similar Pain Relief and a Better Side Effect Profile than Oxycodone (or Hydrocodone) Alone or in Combination With Tramadol After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction or Arthroscopic Knee Debridement

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether tramadol provides similar postoperative pain relief after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgery or arthroscopic debridement surgery compared to oxycodone (or hydrocodone) or a combination of tramadol and oxycodone. METHODS: Patients over the age of 14 undergoing ACL surgery or arthroscopic debridement surgery performed by the same surgeon were provided a postoperative pain diary over the first 10 postoperative days. Patients were either provided tramadol, oxycodone (or hydrocodone), or a combination of tramadol in addition to oxycodone (or hydrocodone). Pain scores were measured on visual analog scale (VAS), including average pain, maximum pain, and minimum pain throughout the day. Additionally, side effects and number of over-the-counter analgesics were recorded. RESULTS: 121 patient surveys were reviewed. Tramadol alone for ACL with autograft provided lower average pain scores on postoperative day 1-3 (VAS 3.3 vs oxycodone 6.1 and hybrid of 5.1) with lowest maximum pain on postoperative day 1 (VAS 5.3 vs oxycodone 6.6 and hybrid 5.1) and the lowest number of average nights awakened by knee pain (3.6 vs oxycodone 6.0 and hybrid 8.5). Tramadol alone provided the lowest number of days of constipation (3 vs oxycodone 4.68 and hybrid 4.08), nausea (0.42 vs oxycodone 1.48 and hybrid 1.72), and dizziness (0.68 vs oxycodone 0.84 vs hybrid 1.28). Individual medication group breakdown of ACL surgery with allograft, as well as arthrosopic knee debridements did not have a large enough quantity to have three separate comparison groups. CONCLUSIONS: Tramadol provides similar, and in most cases better, pain relief for ACL reconstruction and arthroscopic knee debridements compared to oxycodone (or hydrocodone) alone or a combination of tramadol with oxycodone (or hydrocodone), while providing a lower side-effect profile. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Alternative analgesic therapies outside of traditional opioids (like oxycodone and hydrocodone) are lacking in popularity or reputation. This retrospective comparative study cohort evaluation can help provide clinicians an alternative analgesic therapy for various knee surgeries that have comparable pain relief with less addictive properties and less side effects.