Acute Effects of Core Activation Exercises on Spine Alignment and Balance of Patients Undergoing Spine Surgery: Feasibility Study

Conservative treatment is the first choice for most spine pathologies. If this option fails, surgical treatment is often the only alternative. Interventions like microscopic lumbar discectomy and lumbar interbody fusion are the most common ones. Following spine surgery (SS), trunk proprioception may decrease favoring sensorimotor and balance alterations. Providing information to the somatosensory system through guided exercises is important. The aim of the study was to evaluate the acute effects of core activation exercises on spine alignment and balance in people undergoing SS. 22 patients, candidates for SS, were recruited from June to August 2022. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: Guided Core Activation Exercises (GE), or Autonomous Self-Correction (GC). Both interventions lasted 10 min and were carried out on the 3rd post-SS day in front of a squared-up mirror. Assessments were performed before (T0) and after (T1) the assigned intervention. Participants needed to stand keeping an upright posture during both T0 and T1. During T1 patients integrated the information learned during the interventions. Spine alignment (RMS) was evaluated with the Spine 3D (Sensormedica, Italy), a non-invasive three-dimensional optoelectronic detection system, while balance was assessed with the Freemed stabilometric platform (Sensormedica, Italy). Balance outcomes worsened during T1 in both groups: more in GC than in GE. Both Ellipse eccentricity and Y-axis shift were significantly worse for GC than GE. RMS improved in GE and worsened in GC, not significantly. Results highlight that, in acute, core activation exercises improve spine alignment but not balance in patients undergoing spine surgery.