Study Finds Lower Return-to-Work Rate With Spinal Fusion

Patients who were treated within Ohio’s workers’ compensation system for spinal stenosis were less likely to return to work if they underwent spinal fusion and decompression surgery as compared to decompression alone, according to a new study. The study, published this month in the journal Spine, included 364 workers’ comp claimants who had surgery for degenerative spinal stenosis between 1993 and 2013. Thirty-six percent of those who had decompression surgery alone returned to work. For decompression plus fusion, the number was 25%. Patients were classified as returning to...