Pain Outcomes After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction With Posterior Capsular Marcaine Injection

Post-operative pain control following elective anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction continues to be a hurdle for orthopaedic surgeons. This obstacle becomes particularly problematic during the first 36 hours after the operation, when the patient is experiencing pain at its peak intensity. Good control of pain leads to better patient comfort, confidence to place weight on the operative limb and improved ability to perform critical exercises in this period to improve joint range of motion. A variety of anesthetic techniques have been employed to reduce pain including: cryotherapy, systemic analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs, intrathecal, regional blockade of peripheral nerves and frequently intra-articular injections. Each technique has been studied at length with mixed but overall favorable results. However, in the authors' experience, after femoral nerve blockade, patients continue to complain of posterior knee pain in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) and peri-operative period. Intra-articular injections comprised of morphine and other Na-channel blocker analgesics may curb some of this pain by bathing the posterior capsule in anesthetic. However, there is still a large concern amongst orthopaedic surgeons about the potential harm these agents may have on the knee's healthy articular cartilage surfaces. The long term effects, including chondrolysis have been documented in the shoulder and while in the short term this effect is diminished there is still hesitation among surgeons to use this form of pain blockade. This has led the investigators to adapt a technique of isolated posterior capsular injections after total knee replacements from the joint arthroplasty literature, which has shown favorable results with low complication risk. The investigators plan to study the effectiveness of this technique during ACL reconstruction in an attempt to curb the amount of posterior knee pain and decrease the overall narcotic use postoperatively while limiting the