Mindfulness in Fracture Recovery and Reduction of Opioid Reliance: Evaluating the Feasibility of Implementing a Brief, Mindfulness-based Intervention to Manage Pain and Anxiety Before and After Fracture Surgery

Summary

Breaking a bone is not only physically painful but also emotionally overwhelming. Patients often experience intense pain, anxiety, and uncertainty as they are rushed to hospital, undergo emergency treatment, and prepare for surgery. After surgery, many continue to struggle with pain and rely on opioid medications, which carry serious risks including addiction. In the context of our current opioid epidemic, it's critical that alternative treatment strategies are urgently evaluated.

Mindfulness is a practice that helps people focus on the present and has been shown to reduce stress and pain in other settings. In this trial, patients with broken arms or legs who need surgery at Hamilton General Hospital will be randomly assigned to one of two groups who will listen to a two-part, audio recording before and after surgery. Those in the interventional group will engage in a 7-minute audio-guided mindfulness exercise before surgery to help reduce anxiety, and another 7-minute audio-guided mindfulness exercise after surgery to help manage pain. Those in the control group will listen to a 7-minute educational audio recording before surgery and again after surgery.

The main goal is to see if this approach is practical-can enough patients be recruited, and will they complete the audio recordings? The study will also look at early signs of whether the intervention helps reduce pain, anxiety, and opioid use six weeks after surgery. If feasible, a larger study can be conducted to determine if these exercises can help patients manage pain and reduce their need for opioids after surgery.

If successful, this simple, low-cost approach could be widely used in hospitals to support recovery and reduce reliance on pain medications.

Conditions

• Orthopaedic Fractures
• Orthopaedic Trauma Fractures and Non-unions
• Orthopaedic Trauma
• Orthopaedic Surgery
• Orthopaedic Related Pain (Musculoskeletal Pain)
• Anxiety Acute
• Anxiety After Surgery
• Opioid Use
• Opioid Use After Surgery

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Mindfulness Based Intervention

Two 7-minute audio-guided videos, one on breathing practices, the second on pain management

BEHAVIORAL

Educational Recording

7-minute audio educational recording that describes different strategies to cope with pain and anxiety before fracture surgery. A similar recording will also be given after surgery.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation

  collaborator OTHER

• McMaster University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-05-01

Primary Completion

2026-10-30

Completion

2026-10-30

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations