Guidelines for the performance of fusion procedures for degenerative disease of the lumbar spine. Part 14: brace therapy as an adjunct to or substitute for lumbar fusion

Standards. There is insufficient evidence to recommend a treatment standard. Guidelines. The short-term use of a rigid lumbar support (1-3 weeks) is recommended as a treatment for low-back pain of relatively short duration (, 6 months). The use of a lumbar brace for patients with chronic low-back pain is not recommended because there is no pertinent medical evidence of any long-term benefit or evidence that brace therapy is effective in the treatment of patients with chronic (. 6 months) low-back pain. Options. 1) Lumbar braces are recommended as a means of decreasing the number of sick days lost due to low-back pain among workers with a previous lumbar injury. They are not recommended as a means of decreasing low-back pain in the general working population. 2) The use of lumbar brace therapy as a preoperative diagnostic tool to predict outcome following lumbar fusion surgery is not recommended. 3) The use of transpedicular external fixation as a tool to predict outcome following lumbar fusion surgery is not recommended.