Patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) who received physical therapy (PT) had similar symptom relief and functional improvements during the first 2 years as those who had surgical decompression, researchers found.
Anthony Delitto, PT, PhD, from the Department of Physical Therapy, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, and colleagues published the results of their multisite, randomized controlled trial online April 6 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The researchers enrolled 169 patients aged 50 years or older who were candidates for surgery and who had already consented to the procedure. They randomly assigned patients to surgical decompression or evidence-based PT two times per week for 6 weeks.
The authors found no differences between the groups in relieving symptoms and improving function. Both groups started to show improvement at 10 weeks, continued to improve through 26 weeks, and maintained progress during the 2-year follow-up period.
