Rehabilitation following lumbar fusion surgery (REFS) a randomised controlled feasibility study
File(s)Greenwood2019_Article_RehabilitationFollowingLumbarF.pdf (1.82 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Greenwood, James
McGregor, Alison
Jones, Fiona
Hurley, Michael
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
PURPOSE: Following lumbar fusion surgery (LFS), 40% of patients are unsure/dissatisfied with their outcome. A prospective, single-centre, randomised, controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the feasibility (including clinical and economic impact) of a theoretically informed rehabilitation programme following LFS (REFS). METHODS: REFS was informed by an explicit theoretical framework and consisted of 10 consecutive weekly group rehabilitation sessions (education, low-tech cardiovascular, limb and spine strengthening exercises, and peer support). Participants were randomised to REFS or 'usual care.' Primary feasibility outcomes included recruitment and engagement. Secondary outcomes, collected preoperatively and 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively, comprised the Oswestry disability index, European Quality of Life 5 dimensions score, pain self-efficacy questionnaire, hospital anxiety and depression scale and the aggregated functional performance time. Economic impact was evaluated with the Client Services Receipt Inventory. RESULTS: Fifty-two of 58 eligible participants were recruited, and engagement with REFS was > 95%. REFS participants achieved a clinically meaningful reduction in unadjusted mean short-term disability (- 13.27 ± 13.46), which was not observed in the 'usual care' group (- 2.42 ± 12.33). This was maintained in the longer term (- 14.72% ± 13.34 vs - 7.57 ± 13.91). Multilevel regression analyses, adjusted for body mass index, baseline depression, and smoking status reported a statistically significant short-term improvement in disability (p = 0.014) and pain self-efficacy (p = 0.007). REFS costs £275 per participant. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that REFS is feasible and potentially affordable for delivery in the National Health Service. It is associated with a clinically meaningful impact. A multicentre randomised controlled study to further elucidate these results is warranted. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.
Date Issued
2019-04
Date Acceptance
2019-02-06
Citation
European Spine Journal, 2019, 28 (4), pp.735-744
ISSN
0940-6719
Publisher
Springer Verlag
Start Page
735
End Page
744
Journal / Book Title
European Spine Journal
Volume
28
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2019 The Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30788599
PII: 10.1007/s00586-019-05913-6
Subjects
Lumbar fusion surgery
Physiotherapy
Rehabilitation
Theoretical modelling
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Germany
Date Publish Online
2019-02-20