Treatment of spondylolysis with external electrical stimulation in young athletes: a critical literature review.

Lumbar spondylolysis is a common cause of low back pain in adolescent athletes. It is a unilateral or bilateral defect of the pars interarticularis. The cause is still a matter of debate. A wide range of conservative treatments has been used. The purpose of this critical literature review is to investigate the efficacy of external electrical stimulation in the healing of this disorder.