Conservative combination therapy of sciatica due to lumbar disc herniation with mechanical physiotherapy (McKenzie), gabapentin, and transforaminal epidural injections

Background: Treatment of sciatica due to lumbar disc herniation can be surgical or conservative. Conservative management has been described to be effective in 90% of patients; however, in most studies no consistent treatment concept was used. Objectives: In the present study, we evaluated the effect of a combined nonsurgical management (McKenzie physiotherapy, gabapentin, and periradicular injections) in 40 patients during a 10-day inpatient treatment. Methods: In addition to the neuro-orthopedic examination, pain severity at rest and after walking were assessed. The Oswestry pain disability scale, the pain severity scale, and the painDETECT scale were examined to assess neuropathic pain components. The duration of incapacity for work and the requirement of a later surgery were recorded. Examinations were performed on the day of admission, on days 3, 6, 10, and 84, 3 months after discharge. Results: During conservative treatment, a continuous reduction of pain and an improvement of the straight leg raise test as well as finger-to-floor distance could be documented. As the three treatment options were introduced with a time delay, it could be demonstrated that all significantly contributed to the improvement. All treatments were tolerated without side-effects and persistent improvement after 12 weeks. On admission, 32% of patients revealed a neuropathic pain component which decreased to 7% at the follow-up. A total of 28 patients showed impaired muscle strength on admission, which decreased to 7 patients on follow-up. Electromyography revealed pathological results in 70% of patients examined. A significant improvement of quality of life (Oswestry Disability Index [ODI]) could be observed and the patients returned to work after 5.8 weeks. Only 3/40 patients required surgical management due to persistent pain. Conclusion: The combined nonsurgical operative treatment program is effective and well tolerated.