Background: Lumbar disc herniation is a common spinal disease that interferes with daily activities and patient's rehabilitation regimen can greatly aid in their recovery. Aim: evaluate effect of nursing rehabilitation protocol on self-care agency and daily living activities in patients undergoing lumbar discectomy. Subjects and method: Research design: Quasi-experimental design (study/ control). Setting: Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology Department and Outpatient Spine Clinic at Assiut University Hospital. Subjects: A purposive sample of sixty adult patients scheduled for lumber discectomy from both sexes was randomly assigned equally into two groups. Tools: A structured interview, Exercise for Self-Care Agency Scale, and Modified Barthel Index were assessed and analyzed before intervention and 3 months after surgery in two groups. Results: There was no difference between Self-Care Agency and daily living activities mean scores before rehabilitation protocol between study and control group (P > 0.05). Highly statistically significant difference was found in self-care agency mean score of study group (110.4±15.23) vs control group (88.13±5.72) with P value (<0.001). Additionally daily living activities mean score (88.13±6.31) vs (72±6.86) after the rehabilitation protocol was significantly higher in the study than in the control group (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Rehabilitation protocol increased the patients' self-care agency and enhanced participants' independence in daily living activities. Recommendations: Necessity provision of simple illustrated rehabilitation protocol as a teaching approach for patients undergoing lumbar discectomy.