BACKGROUND: Elective lumbar spine surgery is increasingly being implemented to treat patients with specific low back pain. However, approximately 30% of patients continue to have long-term pain and disability after surgery. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature on the effectiveness of pre-surgical rehabilitation (prehab) alone or in combination with usual care versus usual care on patient-oriented outcomes and health-related costs following elective lumbar spine surgery. DATA SOURCES: Electronic databases from MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, and AMED were systematically searched from their inception to November 2022. STUDY SELECTION: Randomized controlled trials that examined adult (age >
18 years) prehab programs and evaluated one or more outcomes of interest were included in this review. DATA EXTRACTION: In pairs, six reviewers independently conducted a risk-of-bias assessment and extracted outcome data from included studies, in accordance with the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR). A meta-analysis was conducted when trials were homogeneous. DATA SYNTHESIS: A total of eight trials ( LIMITATIONS: Overall, the inclusion of heterogeneous trials (e.g., diagnosis, types of surgery, dosage, content, and duration of interventions) with small sample sizes leads to inconclusive and very low certainty of effect estimates. CONCLUSION: The present systematic review has brought to light the dearth of high-quality evidence in support of prehab interventions for patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery. Given the uncertainty surrounding the results obtained from low-quality randomized controlled trials, it is currently not feasible to provide recommendations for clinical practice.