The smallest worthwhile effect of surgery versus non-surgical treatments for sciatica: a benefit-harm trade-off study
People with sciatica would require discectomy to provide an additional 15% reduction in their leg pain beyond the expected 50% improvement in leg pain from non-surgical treatments in the short term to consider discectomy worthwhile. These results can inform the interpretation of the effects of discectomy in randomised trials and meta-analysis from the perspective of consumers.
Authors
- James H. McAuley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0550-828X)
- Christopher G. Maher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1628-7857)
- Ashish D. Diwan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1037-8421)
- Ian A. Harris (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0887-7627)
- Joshua R Zadro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8981-2125)
- Giovanni E Ferreira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8534-195X)
- Mark J. Hancock (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9277-5377)
- Chung‐Wei Christine Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6192-7238)
- Harrison J Hansford (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5942-8509)
- Arthur Araújo Massoud Salame (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5937-6609)
- Manuela L. Ferreira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3479-0683)
Institutions
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- The George Institute for Global Health (AU)
- Institute for Musculoskeletal Health (AU)
- Sydney Local Health District (AU)
- Ingham Institute (AU)
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- Neuroscience Research Australia (AU)
- Macquarie University (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of physiotherapy
- Published
- 2025-03-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphys.2025.02.012
- Citations
- 7
- Primary Topic
- Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 10.30