Activity | Initial dose | Goal |
---|---|---|
Aerobic exercise | ||
Daily walking at self-selected pace | 20 min/day | 60 min/day |
Range of motion exercise | ||
Supine pelvic tilts to promote lumbar flexion/extension* | 20 reps | Full, pain-free ROM |
Quadruped rocking into lumbar flexion/extension† | 20 reps | Full, pain-free ROM |
General trunk exercises | ||
Quadruped single leg lift* | 5 reps of 5 s | 10 reps of 5 s |
Quadruped contralateral arm and leg lift† | 10 reps of 5 s | 20 reps of 10 s |
Supine bridging* | 10 reps of 10 s | 20 reps of 5 s |
Supine bridging with leg lift† | 10 reps of 5 s | 20 reps of 10 s |
Supine abdominal curl-up† | 20 reps of 10 s | 40 reps of 10 s |
Side-lying horizontal side support (knees bent)† | 5 reps of 5 s | 10 reps of 10 s |
Side-lying horizontal side support (knees extended)† | 5 reps of 5 s | 20 reps of 10 s |
Additional exercises in the specific trunk muscle exercise protocol | ||
Volitional LM contraction | 5 reps of 5 s | 10 reps of 10 s |
Abdominal drawing-in manoeuvre | 5 reps of 5 s | 10 reps of 10 s |
TrA/LM cocontraction | 5 reps of 5 s | 10 reps of 10 s |
*From postoperative weeks 2–4.
†Starting after four postoperative weeks.
LM, lumbar multifidus; reps, repetitions; ROM, range of motion; TrA, transversus abdominis.