Exercise before spine surgery showed early benefits, with lasting recovery gains unproven
A review found modest improvements before surgery and less back pain soon afterward, but no consistent durable postoperative benefit.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Exercise programs before elective spinal surgery improved several symptoms and function measures before the operation. Early postoperative back pain also improved, but later pooled results did not establish sustained benefits. The abstract supports some improvement before surgery and early pain relief, while leaving longer-term recovery gains uncertain.
This abstract-based account cannot assess individual exercise programs or control care because they are not described. Hospital-stay evidence had low certainty; most other outcomes had moderate certainty.
What researchers found
Early postoperative back pain: standardized mean difference
Exercise before surgery versus controls, within 1 month after surgery. The difference is in standard deviation units; the negative sign means lower pain with exercise. Evidence certainty was moderate.
Before surgery
Pooled results favored exercise for back and leg pain, knee strength, disability, fear of movement and depressive symptoms. Quality-of-life results remained uncertain because the confidence interval included no difference between groups.
Later recovery
Other postoperative estimates generally lay near no difference. Hospital stays were numerically shorter, but the result was not statistically significant. These findings leave lasting benefit unestablished without proving that all effects are absent.
The original publication
Efficacy of exercise-based prehabilitation for patients undergoing elective spinal surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Lu LS, Sun SH, Li HJ et al.
Front Med (Lausanne) · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 41346977
- Record checked
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