ReviewCureus2026
Functional Outcomes of Intensive Rehabilitation Versus Fusion Surgery in Patients With Low Back Pain Due to Lumbar Degenerative Spine Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in Cureus, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Lumbar degenerative disease is mostly managed non-operatively, but lumbar spinal fusion has been used for almost a century. It has shown clinical efficacy in decreasing pain and disability scores and allowing patients to return to work. However, spinal fusion may not be clinically effective and may place a financial burden on patients. The alternative to spinal fusion is physical therapy and rehabilitation for lumbar degenerative diseases. This study aims to compare the functional outcomes of intensive rehabilitation and lumbar spine fusion surgery among patients with chronic low back pain from lumbar spine degenerative disease. We conducted a systematic search of clinical trials on the topic, followed by a meta-analysis using a random-effects model. The functional outcomes compared included the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) score, improvement in low back pain and leg pain, as well as overall patient outcome. Five randomized controlled trials were included in the meta-analysis. There was a 7.25-point improvement in the change in the ODI (95% CI: 1.22-13.17; p = 0.02; I² = 98%), favoring fusion surgery. All studies showed improvement in low back pain, with a VAS score change of 11.49, favoring fusion surgery (95% CI: 4.48-18.50; p = 0.001; I² = 96%). There was a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score change of 7.2 in leg pain improvement (95% CI: -8.58 to 22.97; p = 0.37; I² = 98%); however, the effect was not significant. There was no significant difference in terms of overall patient outcome (95% CI: 0.23-1.08; p = 0.08; I² = 78%). Among patients with chronic low back pain, lumbar spine fusion surgery showed improvement in functional outcomes related to changes in disability and low back pain when compared with intensive rehabilitation. However, the two treatment options showed no differences with respect to improvement in leg pain and overall patient outcome.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.