How Much Pain Is Significant? Defining the Minimal Clinically Important Difference for the Visual Analog Scale for Pain After Total Joint Arthroplasty

In the postoperative TJA population, VAS-P MCID changes depend on the type of surgical intervention, and whether pain is improving or worsening. Statistically significant VAS-P, improving −18.6 mm and −22.6 mm for THA and TKA patients, respectively, sets a reasonable threshold to identify clinically meaningful pain intervention with high specificity.