Prehab for Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery

Spinal deformity is defined as a curvature in the spine where the alignment is outside of defined normal limits in the sagittal (e.g., kyphosis, lordosis), or coronal plane (e.g., scoliosis). The severity of symptoms among patients with spinal deformity varies and is contingent upon the type and extent of deformity. Studies have shown that adult patients with symptomatic spinal deformity have similar or worse patient-reported health-related quality of life (HRQOL) compared with other pathological conditions such as arthritis, chronic pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes, and cancer. Over the last decade, multiple studies have demonstrated a significant improvement in patient HRQOL, disability and leg pain following spinal deformity surgery at 2-years of follow up. In contrast, patients who are treated non-surgically do not exhibit significant HRQOL changes compared to baseline. Spinal deformity surgery, however, can be associated with complications, with rates as high as 77%. Possible complications include hemorrhage, cerebrospinal fluid leak, screw malposition, ischemic optic neuropathy, thromboembolic events, cardiopulmonary complications, and infection. Recovery from surgery is long-term and challenging, with an expectation that patients may feel worse for up to 3 months after surgery. Moreover, length of hospital stay (LOS), discharge to inpatient rehabilitation, and additional post-discharge, home-care support following spinal deformity surgery are significant drivers of health care costs. In fact, LOS has been reported up to 100 days, with predictors of increased LOS including frailty and functional status. Thus, strategies that can improve preoperative functional status, and subsequently reduce postoperative LOS and improve postoperative recovery trajectories are important for adults undergoing surgery for spinal deformity.

Inclusion criteria

• Candidates for spinal deformity surgery;
• recruited at least 12 weeks preoperatively;
• a frailty score of 0.27 or greater as indicated by the Modified Frailty index-11; and
• proficient in English to comprehend informed consent and intervention instructions

Exclusion criteria

• Refusal to be randomized;
• have significant comorbidity precluding participation in prehabilitation exercises (including Canadian Cardiovascular Society class III/IV coronary disease; New York Heart Association class III/IV congestive heart failure; neurological or musculoskeletal disorder prohibiting exercise; major neuropsychiatric disorder)