Summary of physical capability testing, ODI, VAS pain score, and pain medication use for single-level L4-5 versus L5-S1: Mean presurgical versus postsurgical data and percent change
| Preoperative | Postoperative | Improvement | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCO | No. of patients | Mean | SD | Mean | SD | Mean | SD | % Improvement |
| L4-5 | ||||||||
| Squats (maximum, 20 repetitions) (repetitions) | 6 | 11.2 | 7.2 | 18.8 | 2.9 | 7.7 | 6.5 | 68* |
| Forward bend (maximum, 300 s) (s) | 6 | 127.3 | 94.2 | 178.3 | 101.7 | 51.0 | 66.2 | 40* |
| Kneel (maximum, 600 s) (s) | 6 | 163.0 | 30.2 | 466.8 | 169.9 | 303.8 | 170.6 | 186* |
| Floor-to-waist lift (lb) | 6 | 17.5 | 11.7 | 35.8 | 28.4 | 18.3 | 19.9 | 105 |
| Forward 50-yd carry (lb) | 6 | 23.3 | 12.9 | 37.5 | 21.9 | 14.2 | 15.3 | 61 |
| Push (lb) | 6 | 65.3 | 20.5 | 87.7 | 25.2 | 22.3 | 11.8 | 34 |
| Pull (lb) | 6 | 56.8 | 20.8 | 88.3 | 37.2 | 31.5 | 35.2 | 55 |
| ODI (%) | 6 | 59.0 | 15.6 | 18.0 | 16.6 | 41.0 | 23.6 | |
| VAS pain score | 6 | 4.5 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 3.2 | 2.0 | |
| Morphine equivalency | 5† | 4.0 | 8.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 8.9 | |
| L5-S1 | ||||||||
| Squats (maximum, 20 repetitions) (repetitions) | 9 | 12.3 | 7.8 | 19.2 | 2.0 | 6.9 | 8.2 | 56* |
| Forward bend (maximum, 300 s) (s) | 9 | 107.3 | 62.3 | 284.1 | 33.8 | 176.8 | 60.3 | 165* |
| Kneel (maximum, 600 s) (s) | 9 | 335.2 | 199.1 | 578.2 | 43.4 | 243.0 | 192.4 | 72* |
| Floor-to-waist lift (lb) | 9 | 18.9 | 8.9 | 43.3 | 15.2 | 24.4 | 14.2 | 129 |
| Forward 50-yd carry (lb) | 9 | 18.9 | 6.0 | 50.6 | 16.3 | 31.7 | 16.2 | 168 |
| Push (lb) | 9 | 70.3 | 22.4 | 94.8 | 27.9 | 24.4 | 22.9 | 35 |
| Pull (lb) | 9 | 59.3 | 18.4 | 80.9 | 23.3 | 21.6 | 19.1 | 36 |
| ODI (%) | 9 | 44.7 | 6.8 | 15.2 | 15.9 | 29.4 | 15.0 | |
| VAS pain score | 9 | 5.6 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 1.9 | |
| Morphine equivalency | 9† | 44.2 | 54.3 | 3.3 | 10.0 | 40.9 | 48.7 | |
NOTE. Because of rounding when the final calculation was performed, calculations based on preoperative and postoperative mean values may not equal the mean change or percent change values presented.
↵* Percentages are not indicative of total improvement because patients reached the maximum value.
↵† Patients were unable to complete the task because of an unrelated injury or data were missed during collection.