Preoperative spinal education for lumbar spinal stenosis: A feasibility study

IntroductionLumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is a leading cause of chronic musculoskeletal pain among older adults. A common and costly intervention for the treatment of LSS is lumbar decompression with or without fusion (LSS surgery), which has mixed outcomes among patients. Prehabilitation is a strategy designed to optimize the consistency of positive surgical outcomes and promote patient self‐efficacy, while attempting to mitigate postoperative complications. No efforts have investigated the prehabilitation strategies specifically for patients undergoing LSS surgery.ObjectiveTo determine the feasibility of delivery and acceptability by participants of a novel prehabilitation intervention for patients undergoing LSS surgery.DesignFeasibility study.SettingOutpatient orthopedic clinic at an academic medical center.ParticipantsPatients at least 50 years of age, who were scheduled for LSS surgery between October 2020 and October 2021.InterventionPreOperative Spinal Education for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis (POSE‐LSS), is a novel multimodal, education‐focused, time‐efficient prehabilitation program for patients undergoing LSS surgery. Participants received the following: (1) Educational booklet and video; (2) In‐person physical therapy (PT) session; and (3) Telemedicine visit with a physiatrist.Main Outcome Measure(s)The primary outcomes of interest were feasibility and acceptability of intervention by participants. Key potential surgical outcomes were length of stay and discharge disposition.ResultsPOSE‐LSS was completed by all eligible participants enrolled (n = 15) indicating feasibility and acceptability. Potential effectiveness measures including length of stay and discharge disposition were positively associated with the POSE‐LSS intervention.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that a novel prehabilitation intervention is feasible, acceptable, and appears positively associated with important short‐term measures of postoperative recovery that may impact the trajectory of patient care following LSS surgery.