[Radicular low back pain: is there a relationship between the treatment regimen and outcome?].

OBJECTIVE

To identify a possible relationship between the non-surgical treatment regimen and outcome.

METHODS

In a sample of 170 patients with sciatica due to a herniated disk the intensity of a conservative multimodal inpatient treatment in a neurological department was extracted. The outcome was examined using two prospective cohorts (183 patients). These results were compared with published data from orthopaedic inpatient rehabilitation in Germany.

RESULTS

The neurological inpatient treatment regimen was more intense than the orthopaedic inpatient rehabilitation, especially with regard to physiotherapy. In contrast, physical therapy was applied more often in orthopaedic rehabilitation. A better short-term outcome with regard to pain intensity was found after multimodal conservative treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

Further studies are needed to compare different treatment regimens in patients with sciatica.