The effectiveness of postoperative exercise based on gait analysis compared with conventional exercise in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis: A randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND: Despite being used as a program of postoperative rehabilitation, few randomized controlled trials have compared the effectiveness of postoperative exercise based on gait analysis in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of postoperative exercise based on gait analysis in patients with LSS and to compare it with the effectiveness of conventional exercise. METHODS: This was a double-blind, randomized clinical trial. Sixty-eight participants with LSS were randomly assigned to one of two groups. After receiving a standardized surgical procedure, the observation group received exercises based on 3-D gait analysis, and the control group received empirical physiotherapy containing 4 basic interventions. Both groups took a one-hour session twice daily for 2 weeks. The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scale and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) were measured before and 2 weeks and 6 months after intervention. The gait indicators were measured before and 6 months after intervention. RESULTS: At baseline, there were no significant differences in the ODI, VAS or absolute symmetry index (ASI) of the gait variables between the observation group and the control group. However, at 6 months, pain intensity, walking, standing, social life and summary scores of ODI and VAS of the leg demonstrated significant differences (p < 0.05, respectively) between groups, and the observation group had greater reductions in ASI of stride length, hip flexion, knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion compared with the control group (p < 0.05, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The postoperative rehabilitation scheme based on gait analysis resulted in significant short- to medium-term improvements in pain intensity, walking, standing, social life and the summary score of ODI, VAS of leg and symmetry of stride length, hip flexion, knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion compared with empirical exercise in patients with LSS.