Rehabilitation After Lumbar Disc Surgery: Exercise Therapy and Brief Educational Intervention

Haukeland University Hospital

Status: Completed

Conditions: Prolapse

Treatments: Other: Brief intervention, an educational model; Other: Exercise therapy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01779544

2012/1861

Details and patient eligibility

About

Rehabilitation after lumbar disc surgery (prolapse) focuses on various elements such as endurance, strength, stretching and information. Evidence concludes that it is not harmful to return to activity after lumbar disc surgery, and restrictions to activities after these operations are today more or less nonexistent. Some studies have shown that high intensity programs might be more effective, but they are probably more expensive. In recent years cognitive interventions have received more attention in rehabilitation programs after lumbar disc surgery. The cognitive approach is focused on providing patient knowledge to reduce uncertainty so that he or she can understand what is important after lumbar disc surgery so that belief in self-efficacy increases. A goal of the rehabilitation is to get the patient to resume normal activities. Reviews ask for how much treatment are needed in a rehabilitation program after lumbar disc surgery.

The study will be a randomized clinical trial. The study will compare two different post-operative rehabilitation programs (general information or general information + exercise therapy). Both groups will begin treatment 1 day after surgery. Subjects in exercise therapy group are supposed to continue with exercises 3 months.

In this study the following hypothesis will be studied:

1. Brief intervention, an educational model, alone after lumbar disc surgery do have the same effect on pain in legs and low back as brief intervention, an educational model, combined with exercise therapy.
2. Exercises which are instructed after lumbar disc surgery in a rehabilitation program, are being done by the patients.

Enrollment: 70 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 60 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Diagnosed with lumbar disc prolapse with radicular pain
• Age between 18 and 60

Exclusion criteria

• Previous lumbar disc surgery (prolapse)
• Spondyloarthritis
• Arthritis
• Systematic disease
• Heart disease
• Does not understand Norwegian language, spoken or in writing

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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70 participants in 2 patient groups

Brief intervention only

Active Comparator group

Description:

Brief intervention, an educational model, consists of information

Treatment:

Other: Brief intervention, an educational model

Exercise group

Active Comparator group

Description:

Brief educational intervention combined with exercise therapy

Treatment:

Other: Exercise therapy

Other: Brief intervention, an educational model