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The effectiveness of physical exercise in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis: a systematic review

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Abstract

Background

To our knowledge, no other systematic review comprehensively demonstrated the effectiveness of exercise and conventional physiotherapy in lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS).

Aims

The purpose of the present systematic review was to provide a comprehensive review of exercise therapy on LSS.

Methods

A literature search was carried out in the following databases on October 2021: PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science (WoS) database. The study quality assessment was independently determined according to the PEDro scores by two reviewers. A narrative synthesis was used to synthesize the data of the compiled studies and express their results.

Results

Records identified through database searching; PubMed (n = 352), Web of Science (n = 180), Science Direct (n = 2801), Cochrane Library (n = 423) and Scopus (n = 12). A total of 3768 papers were screened. Studies unrelated to the question, another study language, undesired study design, duplicate articles, undesired intervention, undesired sample feature (n = 3757) were excluded. An analysis was conducted on the full text of 11 journals. The vast majority (90.9%) of articles received a PEDro score of 6–8 (“good”). The mean PEDro score of the studies was 6.8 ± 1.5 (min:1, max:8). Four of the studies (36.3%) focused on neurogenic claudication in the LSS. Other studies have focused on LSS due to various causes (e.g., degenerative).

Conclusions

The review results showed that supervised exercise was more effective in LSS than self-management or home exercise. In addition, core stabilization, aqua therapy or aerobic (e.g., treadmill, cycling) exercises can be advantageous in different parameters.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Funding

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Köyceğiz Vocational School of Health Services, Department of Health Care Services, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla, Turkey

    Fatih Özden & Zahide Yuvakgil

  2. Institute of Health Sciences, Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey

    İsmet Tümtürk

  3. Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Marmara University, İstanbul, Turkey

    Zübeyir Sarı

Authors
  1. Fatih Özden
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  2. İsmet Tümtürk
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  3. Zahide Yuvakgil
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  4. Zübeyir Sarı
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fatih Özden.

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The authors report no conflicts of interest and certify that no funding has been received for this study and/or preparation of this manuscript.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Search strategy of PubMed, web of science, science direct, cochrane library, Scopus

Search ID#

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S1

spinal stenosis AND exercise AND randomized controlled trial

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S2

spinal stenosis AND exercise AND random allocation

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spinal stenosis AND rehabilitation AND randomized controlled trial

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spinal stenosis AND rehabilitation AND random allocation

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spinal stenosis AND therapy AND randomized controlled trial

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spinal stenosis AND therapy AND random allocation

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spinal stenosis AND physiotherapy AND randomized controlled trial

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spinal stenosis AND physiotherapy AND random allocation

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canal stenosis AND exercise AND randomized controlled trial

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canal stenosis AND exercise AND random allocation

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canal stenosis AND rehabilitation AND randomized controlled trial

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canal stenosis AND rehabilitation AND random allocation

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canal stenosis AND therapy AND randomized controlled trial

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canal stenosis AND therapy AND random allocation

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canal stenosis AND physiotherapy AND randomized controlled trial

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canal stenosis AND physiotherapy AND random allocation

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vertebral stenosis AND exercise AND randomized controlled trial

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vertebral stenosis AND exercise AND random allocation

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vertebral stenosis AND rehabilitation AND randomized controlled trial

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vertebral stenosis AND rehabilitation AND random allocation

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vertebral stenosis AND therapy AND randomized controlled trial

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vertebral stenosis AND therapy AND random allocation

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vertebral stenosis AND physiotherapy AND randomized controlled trial

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vertebral stenosis AND physiotherapy AND random allocation

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Total result literature searches: n = 3768 references

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Özden, F., Tümtürk, İ., Yuvakgil, Z. et al. The effectiveness of physical exercise in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis: a systematic review. Sport Sci Health 18, 1129–1140 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-022-00895-3

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