Effects of adding neural mobilization to traditional physical therapy on pain, functional disability, and H-reflex in patients after lumbar laminectomy: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether adding neural mobilization to a standard postoperative physical therapy program could improve the outcomes of patients after lumbar laminectomy. Design: A single blinded randomized controlled trial. Setting: Outpatient setting. Participants: Sixty participants of both sexes who had undergone lumbar laminectomy. Interventions: Participants were allocated randomly to two groups; study and control groups. All patients received a standard postoperative physical therapy program. Those in the study group received additional neural mobilization in the form of straight leg raising and dorsiflexion with two-ended slider. Treatment was administered three times/week for six successive weeks. Outcome measures: Visual analog scale (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI), and H-reflex latency were measured pre and post-treatment. Results: The mean age of participants was 44.23 ± 4.64 and 45.3 ± 5.3 in study and control groups respectively (P > 0.05). There were statistically significant differences in VAS, ODI, and H-reflex latency in favor of the study group (P < 0.05). The mean ± SD for VAS, ODI, and H-reflex latency pre vs post treatment was 6.13 ± 1.22 vs 1.40 ± 0.77, 64.46 ± 4.05 vs 16.86 ± 2.55, and 32.07 ± 2.76 vs 27.46 ±1.79 in study group and 5.86 ± 1.07 vs 2.46 ± 0.73, 63.93 ± 3.91 vs 23.40 ± 2.93, and 31.76 ± 2.69 vs 29.4 ± 1.94 in control group, respectively. Conclusions: Neural mobilization combined with traditional physical therapy program achieved better improvement in pain, functional disability and H-reflex in patients who underwent decompressive laminectomy than traditional physical therapy program only.