Statistical analysis
NRS
Forty participants were needed to reach significance with a power of 85% and an alpha error of 0.025 when the noninferiority margin of the NRS was set to 0.5 and the standard deviation (SD) was set to 1. Taking patient withdrawal and other reasons for loss to follow-up during the study period into consideration, 45 participants were enrolled for each group.Continuous variables are reported as the mean values and SDs and were analysed using independent Student’s 