Although patients scheduled to undergo lumbar disc surgery often ask when they are allowed to drive a motor vehicle again, there are no published recommendations on this subject.We conducted a prospective study in 46 consecutive patients (mean age 48.9?years) to determine driving reaction time (DRT) before and after surgery in patients with lumbar disc herniation. Of the patients 23 had left-side radiculopathy and 23 right-side radiculopathy. Driving reaction time as well as back and leg pain were evaluated preoperatively, on the day of discharge from hospital and at the 5-week follow-up examination (FU). 31 healthy subjects were tested as controls.Significant improvement in DRT was seen for both patient samples (p?
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