The ODI remains a valid and vigorous measure and has been a worthwhile outcome measure .
The behavior of the instrument is incompletely understood , particularly in sensitivity to real change .
The Oswestry Disability Index ( ODI ) has become one of the principal condition-specific outcome measures used in the management of spinal disorders .
To review the versions of this instrument , document methods by which it has been vali date d , collate data from scores found in normal and back pain population s , provide curves for power calculations in studies using the ODI , and maintain the ODI as a gold st and ard outcome measure .
It has now been 20 years since its original publication .
Lumbar spinal stenosis: a matched-pair study of operated and non-operated patients.
The prevailing opinion seems to accept that the natural course of lumbar spinal stenosis is one of progressive worsening , and that only surgery can check this development . In fact , the choice of treatment for lumbar spinal stenosis is still an open question . The aim of this study was to compare in the matched-pair format the outcome of  surgically and non-surgically treated patients with lumbar spinal stenosis . The  surgically treated group consisted of 496 patients who were operated on during the period 1974 - 1987 and 440 of whom were re-examined an average of 4.1 years after surgery . The non-surgically treated group consisted of 57 patients who were treated conservatively during the period 1980 - 1987 and were re-examined an average of 4.3 years after the start of treatment . The matching criteria were sex , age , myelographic findings , major symptom and duration of symptoms . We were able to form 54 similar matched-pairs from the surgically and non-surgically treated patients . Subjective disability was assessed using the Oswestry question naire and functional status was evaluated during the clinical examination . For statistical analysis the McNemar test and the paired Student 's t-test were used . The overall results showed no statistical difference in outcome between the matched-pair groups , but the operated men fared significantly better than the non-operated men . The functional status was very good in both groups and for both sexes . In conclusion , conservative treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis should be considered for the patients with moderate stenosis . Controlled , prospect i ve and r and omized trials are needed to clarify better the choice of treatment in patients with lumbar stenosis
The ODI remains a valid and vigorous measure and has been a worthwhile outcome measure .
The behavior of the instrument is incompletely understood , particularly in sensitivity to real change .
The Oswestry Disability Index ( ODI ) has become one of the principal condition-specific outcome measures used in the management of spinal disorders .
To review the versions of this instrument , document methods by which it has been vali date d , collate data from scores found in normal and back pain population s , provide curves for power calculations in studies using the ODI , and maintain the ODI as a gold st and ard outcome measure .
It has now been 20 years since its original publication .