BACKGROUND: The benefits of combining supervised exercise in the non-surgical treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of non-surgical treatments with and without supervised exercise for pain intensity, symptom severity, functional impairment/disability, walking distance, and quality of life (QOL) in LSS patients. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating combinations of supervised exercises were searched using four electronic databases up to August 13, 2020. Meta-analysis was conducted for immediate and long-term results. RESULTS: Three studies were identified, including 244 participants. Immediate-term results showed that leg pain intensity (mean distance (MD) -0.94, 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) -1.60 to -0.29, p < 0.01) and symptom severity (MD -0.29, 95% CI -0.50 to -0.08, p < 0.01) were lower in the study group than in the control group, and walking distance (MD 415.83, 95% CI 298.15 to 533.50, p < 0.001) and QOL were higher in the study group. Long-term results showed that functional disability/impairment (MD -0.27, 95% CI -0.49 to -0.04, p < 0.05) was lower in the study group than in the control group, and walking distance and QOL were higher in the study group. CONCLUSION: The number of studies on this topic was small and limited. Combinations of non-surgical treatment and supervised exercise may not provide significant benefits.

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