Gothenburg

Researchers are evaluating whether the digital rehabilitation program Get Back is more effective than standard rehabilitation at increasing daily steps, physical activity, and functional ability in patients undergoing surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis LSS. LSS is common among older adults and often leads to reduced physical activity and quality of life after surgery. This multicenter randomized controlled trial aims to assess the programs efficacy, process, and cost-effectiveness, while also exploring how preoperative physical and psychological factors influence recovery. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the Get Back program or standard physical therapy after surgery. The Get Back intervention is fully digital and includes one pre-surgery video session with a physical therapist, up to five core video sessions, and five booster telephone sessions over 13 weeks, starting about one week before surgery. It focuses on graded physical activity, managing fear avoidance, and behavior change, with personalized health plans and weekly activity diaries to track progress. The control group will follow standard physical therapy as provided at each clinical site. Participants will be assessed starting about two weeks before surgery and followed up at 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after surgery. Assessments include questionnaires, physical capacity tests, and wearing an accelerometer for seven days to measure daily steps and physical activity. Clinical data will be collected from medical records, and a sub-sample of intervention participants will share their experiences through interviews. The primary outcome is steps per day measured by activity trackers at multiple timepoints up to one year post-surgery.