Does early intervention improve outcomes in the physiotherapy management of lumbar radicular syndrome? Results of the POLAR pilot randomised controlled trial

80 patients with lumbar radicular syndrome and who had presented to their general practitioner were randomized to either early physical therapy beginning within 2 weeks of randomization or to delayed physical therapy started after 6 weeks following randomization. The primary purpose of this study was to explore feasibility measures to inform a potential definitive trial. Results on recruitment, logistics, delivery of the intervention, attendance of physical therapy sessions, and attrition of patients suggest that a definitive trial is feasible to compare efficacy measure between the two protocols.