Recently, we often encounter many patients who have just undergone intervertebral foraminoscopy and ask, “Doctor, how long do I have to stay in bed after the minimally invasive surgery? When can I work? When can I exercise normally?” The following is a brief explanation of these concerns. First of all, do patients who have undergone laminectomy have to be absolutely bedridden? The answer is of course no. The technical advantages of minimally invasive surgery itself are characterized by less trauma, faster recovery, and the ability to get down to the ground immediately after the surgery, so why should you instead keep yourself in bed every day? Some people may worry that getting down to the ground at an early stage will increase the risk of recurrence, but there is no research to show that the earlier you get down to the ground, the higher the probability of recurrence will increase accordingly, so you can rest assured. Having said that, it is still advisable to rest and avoid excessive activity for the first 2-4 weeks after surgery, and then gradually increase the amount of activity once the local condition has stabilized. So, since more rest is recommended early on, is it impossible to exercise while in bed? Of course not. When you are in bed, you can do strength exercises such as leg lifting and contracting the leg muscles (alternating between tensing – relaxing – tensing). As for the well-known swallow fly exercises, it is not recommended to do them in the early postoperative period, and it is recommended to start practicing them after 4 weeks, so as to avoid incorrect methods that may aggravate the burden on the lumbar muscles. ps: I will release the specific swallow fly exercises in my next article, so stay tuned. How long will it take for me to carry out my daily working life after having minimally invasive lumbar spine surgery? Theoretically, minimally invasive surgery does not affect daily exercise, but we have found that many patients, due to the obvious reduction of pain after surgery, are happy to do housework and play computer for a long time, which leads to the recurrence of pain in the early postoperative period. Therefore, it is recommended that patients who need to sit for a long time at work should stay at home for one month to recover. Waist cuffs can be taken off after 2 weeks of wear, and after one month, you can gradually start mild physical activities, such as jogging, walking, etc., but do not carry out strenuous confrontational activities, such as basketball, wrestling, etc. After three months, you can gradually resume your physical activities, and then return to your work. To be three months later, and then gradually resume normal physical activity. Last but not least, although surgery can relieve compression and symptoms, it can’t reverse the degeneration process (rusted parts can’t be made new again), so the post-surgery population is still at high risk of recurrence, and it’s still important to avoid prolonged sedentary activities and bending over to carry heavy objects and other bad lumbar habits. Getting up and moving around after sitting for 30-40 minutes to relax the stiff low back muscles, and always squatting to tighten the core muscles before getting up when lifting things (as shown in the picture) are all things you should pay extra attention to in general.