Introduction: In addition to pain, specific low back pain is frequently accompanied by restricted range of motion (ROM) during gait.
Purpose: To compare the behavior of kinematic and spatiotemporal gait parameters, pain, functional status, and self-efficacy, in patients with a diagnosis of herniated disk or lumbar stenosis undergoing surgery, in the pre- and postoperative periods of 1 and 6 months (PO6).
Methods: Seven participants and 11 control subjects were assessed. A kinematics system comprising 10 optoelectronic cameras was used to assess gait. The Roland-Morris questionnaire, pain intensity, and self-efficacy, over three periods, were used.
Results: The ROM of the pelvis, hip, and knee of the hernia group presented an increase after surgery and the stenosis group presented a reduction of values in the hip. During the stance phase, the pelvis and hip ROM of both groups remained smaller than the control group. There was improvement in pain in individuals with hernia and stenosis (effect size = 0.6 and 0.8, respectively) in the three analyzed moments; for functional status there was improvement in the first postoperative period (ES = 0.4) compared to the preoperative in those individuals with hernia; and those with stenosis had improvement at PO6 when compared to the time before the surgery (ES = 0.2).
Conclusion: Surgical intervention modifies the spatiotemporal parameters, the ROM of the pelvis, hip, and knee in the total gait cycle, primarily in the sagittal plane, and causes alterations, particularly in the hip joint, in these individuals during the support phase.
Keywords: Gait analysis; low back pain; lumbar disc herniation; physical function; postoperative period.