Listening Time  — 16:15

In this episode of the PTJ Podcast, Editorial Board Member John Heick, PT, DPT, PhD, talks with Bahar Shahidi, PT, DPT, PhD, about her recently published study that found that exercise-based rehabilitation results in the same magnitude of improvement in patients with radiographically mild, moderate, or severe stenosis. They discuss how imaging influences clinical decision-making, why clinicians may be more likely to refer patients with severe stenosis to surgical interventions first, and why there is a specific benefit to exercise-based rehabilitation in this population.

Shahidi is co-author of the article “Severity of Structural Lumbar Spinal Stenosis Does Not Impact Responsiveness to Exercise-Based Rehabilitation.” Read the article on the PTJ website and follow PTJ on LinkedIn and Bluesky for more research updates.  

Our Speakers

John Heick, PT, DPT, PhD, is an editorial board member of PTJ: Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Journal. He is also an associate professor at Northern Arizona University.

Bahar Shahidi, PT, DPT, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UC San Diego.