Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Practice Point
  • Published:

Is lumbar spinal surgery more effective than intensive rehabilitation for management of low back pain?

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Gibson JN and Waddell G (2005) Surgery for degenerative lumbar spondylosis. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 2, Art. No CD001352

    Google Scholar 

  2. Fritzell P et al. (2004) Cost-effectiveness of lumbar fusion and nonsurgical treatment for chronic low back pain in the Swedish Lumbar Spine Study: a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial from the Swedish Lumbar Spine Study Group. Spine 29: 421–434

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Brox J et al. (2003) Randomized clinical trial of lumbar instrumented fusion and cognitive intervention and exercises in patients with chronic low back pain and disc degeneration. Spine 28: 1913–1921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Rivero-Arias O et al. (2005) Surgical stabilisation of the spine compared with a programme of intensive rehabilitation for the management of patients with chronic low back pain: cost utility analysis based on a randomised controlled trial. BMJ 330: 1239–1242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Guzman J et al. (2002) Multidisciplinary bio-psycho-social rehabilitation for chronic low back pain. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 1, Art. No CD000963

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The synopsis was written by Jasmine Farsarakis, Associate Editor, Nature Clinical Practice.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charles Pither.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author is the Medical Director of The RealHealth Institute, London, UK.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pither, C. Is lumbar spinal surgery more effective than intensive rehabilitation for management of low back pain?. Nat Rev Rheumatol 1, 20–21 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncprheum0041

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncprheum0041

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing