Medical hypnosis and orthopedic hand surgery: Pain perception, postoperative recovery, and therapeutic comfort

Orthopedic hand-surgery patients experience severe pain postoperatively, ye t they must engage in painful exercises and wound care shortly after surger y; poor patient involvement may result in loss of function and disfiguremen t. This study tested a hypnosis intervention designed to reduce pain percep tion, enhance postsurgical recovery, and facilitate rehabilitation. Using a quasi-experimental research design, 60 hand-surgery patients received eith er usual treatment or usual treatment plus hypnosis. After controlling for gender, race, and pretreatment scores, the hypnosis group showed significan t decreases in measures of perceived pain intensity (PPI), perceived pain a ffect (PPA), and state anxiety. In addition, physician's ratings of progres s were significantly higher for experimental subjects than for controls, an d the experimental group had significantly fewer medical complications. The se results suggest that a brief hypnosis intervention may reduce orthopedic hand-surgery patients' postsurgical PPI, PPA, and anxiety; decrease comorb idity; and enhance postsurgical recovery and rehabilitation. However, true experimental research designs with other types of controls must be employed to determine more fully the contribution of hypnosis to improved outcome.