Physical Performance Continues to Improve After Surgery for Sciatica, Exceeding Recovery Periods of Physical Capacity...

Area of Science:

• Spine Surgery
• Digital Health
• Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

• Sciatica significantly impacts patient function and quality of life.
• Lumbar spine surgery aims to alleviate sciatica symptoms and restore function.
• Assessing long-term recovery trajectories post-surgery is crucial for evaluating treatment efficacy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To longitudinally analyze smartphone-based real-life activity data.
• To compare this data with established clinical outcome measures in patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery for sciatica.
• To identify divergence in recovery trajectories between real-world activity and clinical assessments.

Main Methods:

• Fifty patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery for sciatica were assessed preoperatively and at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months.
• Outcomes included smartphone-derived daily Step Count, 6-minute walking test (6WT), and subjective disability measures (VAS, COMI, ODI).
• Piecewise linear mixed-effects models compared recovery slopes in early (0-6 weeks) and late (6 weeks-6 months) phases.

Main Results:

• All measures improved significantly in the early recovery phase (0-6 weeks).
• Smartphone-derived Step Count showed continuous improvement in the late phase, unlike 6WT, ODI, and COMI, which plateaued.
• Correlations between Step Count and traditional metrics weakened over time, indicating differing recovery patterns.

Conclusions:

• Smartphone-based real-life activity monitoring provides a more sensitive assessment of functional recovery post-lumbar spine surgery.
• Continuous real-world activity data reveals ongoing improvement beyond the plateau observed in conventional clinical measures.
• Digital health tools can offer deeper insights into long-term patient outcomes after sciatica surgery.