The primary objective was to evaluate the analgesic efficacy of valdecoxib 20 mg daily and valdecoxib 20 mg twice daily compared with placebo in outpatients with moderate-severe pain after arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgery. Secondary objectives were to compare each valdecoxib dose with placebo on additional measures of pain intensity, health outcomes, the use of rescue medication, and the occurrence of opioid-related symptoms, and to evaluate their safety.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Included patients had uncomplicated arthroscopic ACL reconstruction
• Subjects were to have a Baseline pain intensity of ≥ 50 mm as measured on a 0 - 100mm visual analogue scale (VAS) and moderate to severe pain on a categorical scale by 23:00 hours on the day of surgery and prior to being discharged from the surgical facility
• Subjects could not have received any medication or additional procedures that would confound the interpretation of the study results.

Exclusion Criteria:

• the patient was admitted to or retained in the surgical center/hospital for >23 hours;
• the patient underwent any other surgical procedure, along with the orthopedic procedure, that was expected to produce a greater degree of surgical trauma than the orthopedic procedure alone;
• the patient used conventional nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors, or tramadol during the 6 hours preceding surgery, during surgery, or subsequent to the end of surgery;
• the patient received oxaprozin or piroxicam within 1 week prior to randomization;
• the patient had a pain pump or indwelling catheter during surgery that administered local or intraarticular anesthetics or narcotics at the index joint, or had such an intra-articular injection at the end of surgery;
• the patient had been treated with patient-controlled analgesia or NSAIDs subsequent to the end of anesthesia;
• patient had a history of clinically significant GI disease or renal disease, or history of a gastrointestinal ulcer, or cancer, or a laboratory abnormality that would suggest it was not in the subject's best interest to enroll in the trial.