What to expect from exercise therapy for spondylolysis

Spondylolysis is a stress injury affecting a small section of a spinal bone, often in the lower back. Exercise therapy does not force the area through pain. A physiotherapist may first review your symptoms, movement, strength, flexibility, training load, and any imaging information available.

Early work may focus on comfortable positions, breathing, deep abdominal control, pelvic control, and gentle hip movement. As symptoms settle, exercises can progress to trunk endurance, gluteal strength, balance, and movement patterns used in work or sport. The pace depends on your response between sessions.

Follow the prescribed repetitions and use pain during and after exercise as feedback. Avoid adding difficult lifts, repeated back arching, or high-impact training without discussing the change. Keep a simple record of which activities increase symptoms and how you feel later that day and the next morning.

A home plan usually works alongside temporary activity modification. Your clinician can show you how to return to running, lifting, or sport in stages, with technique and recovery considered at each step. General exercise guidance is available in [Exercise Therapy](/treatments/physiotherapy-and-rehabilitation/exercise-therapy/).

Contact your clinician if pain is steadily worsening, begins travelling down a leg, or prevents ordinary activities despite following the plan. Seek urgent medical help for new loss of bladder or bowel control, numbness around the groin, or marked weakness in a leg. New fever or significant pain after a major injury also needs prompt assessment.

Ask which movements should be limited now, what level of discomfort is acceptable, when strengthening can progress, and how return to your usual sport or work will be tested.