2025 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 65-71
Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate the following: (a) basic patient information, (b) preoperative physical function, and (c) preoperative patient-based outcomes to identify factors that delay gait acquisition after lumbar fusion surgery.
Methods: A total of 129 patients who had undergone lumbar fusion surgery within 3 years from April 2020 were included. The evaluation included (a) age, sex, BMI, duration of disease, number of fixed intervertebral spaces, and number of days since surgery in which the patient acquired a walking style at discharge (hereafter referred to as "days of gait acquisition" ). (b) SLR, NRS, time to stand on one leg, and 6-min walk test. (c) JOABPEQ, PSEQ, CSI, HADS, PCS, and TSK scores were investigated. For statistical analysis, the Mann-Whitney U test or chi-square test was used to compare two groups: those who acquired gait within 14 days after surgery (normal group) and those who acquired gait more than 14 days after surgery (delayed group), and the significance level was 5%.
Results: The results showed significant differences in age, BMI, NRS, time to stand on one leg, 6-min walk test, JOABPEQ gait function, and PSEQ score (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: We observed that not only basic attributes such as age, preoperative balance function, and walking ability, but also low preoperative self-efficacy influenced gait acquisition after lumbar fusion surgery.
