The effects of early aerobic exercise after single-level lumbar microdiscectomy on pain, functioning and return to work

This study was designed to investigate the effects of aerobic exercise starting 1 month after first time single-level lumbar microdiscectomy on pain, functioning and return to work.130 patients were assessed to participate in the study and 40 of them were included in the study. 18 of the 40 patients who lived in Ankara were placed into the aerobic exercise group while 22 patients into the control group. Both group were given the home exercise programme. The aerobic exercise group received 20 sessions of treadmill exercise in addition to the home exercise program 1 month after the surgery. Low back pain and leg pain of the patients were evaluated with VAS score (Visual Analogue Scale), functioning were evaluated with Roland-Morris Disability Index, and return to work were calculated by using count of days off work. Patients were evaluated at within the last week before surgery, at the postoperative second month and the postoperative eighth month.Significant imrovements of low back pain VAS scores, leg pain VAS scores and functioning scores were achieved in both group after surgery. Functional improvement was significantly more in the aerobic exercise group than the the control group at the end of the aerobik exercise program. There was no additional contribution of aerobic exercise on VAS scores and return to work when compared to surgery.The results of this study show that aerobic exercise starting 1 month after first time single-level lumbar microdiscectomy results in a more pronounced functional improvement than the home exercise program at least during the program. If the exercise program is discontinued, functional recovery from the treatment is discontinued, too. We suggest that suitable patients with single-level microdiscectomy should be encouraged to participate in aerobic exercise programme 1 month after surgery. Further prospective, randomized-controlled studies with a larger patient sample are warranted to ultimately demonstrate that early aerobic exercise as described is benefical for patients undergoing single-level lomber mikrodiscectomy.