ArticleNorth American Spine Society journal2025
Therapeutic exercise following lumbar spine surgery: a narrative review.
Article in North American Spine Society journal, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Objectively measured physical activity following lumbar decompression surgery: systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2026Pooled it
- Symptom relief does not fully reflect functional adaptation after lumbar decompression: longitudinal changes in lifting biomechanics following surgery for degenerative lumbar stenosis.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- Lumbar Decompression is Associated With Changes in Functional Transition Biomechanics and Neuromuscular Control During Sit-to-Stand in Degenerative Lumbar Stenosis.Global spine journal · 2026Article
- Factors Associated with the Early Ambulation After Elective Lumbar Spinal Surgery: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Impact of nutritional status and abnormal bone-muscle metabolism on chronic low back pain after lumbar decompression surgery: a multicenter predictive model study based on paraspinal muscle parameters.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- The Effect of Intravenous Parecoxib on Early Ambulation After Elective Lumbar Spinal Surgery: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Therapeutic exercise is often part of the rehabilitation process following lumbar spine surgery. Despite this utilization, high-quality evidence and specific guidance regarding therapeutic exercise parameters and protocols following lumbar spine surgery remain sparse. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide a narrative review of the current evidence regarding exercise prescription, activity recommendations, and outcome measures following lumbar discectomy, fusion, and total disc replacement surgeries. Methods: A comprehensive narrative review was conducted regarding postoperative exercise for lumbar spine surgery, a summary of the current available literature was provided and interpreted, and future directions for research were identified. Results: The findings of narrative review generally support supervised therapeutic exercise as safe and beneficial following lumbar discectomy, fusion, and total disc arthroplasty surgeries. Initial exercise prescriptions should be individualized according to patient and surgical factors, including prior level of function, comorbidities, and tissue healing timelines, to support recovery goals. These findings can be useful for surgeons and rehabilitation practitioners to provide general guidance and to counsel patients on appropriate therapeutic exercises and activity recommendations following lumbar spine surgery, with a particular focus on the safety of exercise types and when to initiate exercise postoperatively. Physical activity monitoring (eg, wearables) can be used to complement postsurgical therapeutic exercise and enhance outcomes. Conclusions: This review provides the most current evidence regarding the safety and effectiveness of therapeutic exercise following lumbar spine surgery. Given the narrative format of this review, these findings are not intended to serve as clinical practice guidelines or provide specific recommendations about implementation. Thus, pragmatic implementation of exercise following lumbar spine surgery depends on the patient's distinct presentation, surgical factors, expertise and experience of the clinician, available resources, and patient preferences. Future prospective research trials and subsequent systematic reviews are needed to elucidate specific factors regarding the use of therapeutic exercise following lumbar spine surgery.
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