Minster Chiropractic Care Respects Spinal Extension
Extension of the spine: It’s good. It’s bad. So what is up with spinal extension? Both are accurate: It’s valuable. It is harmful. It is the job of your Minster chiropractor to help you establish the role of extension for your Minster back pain relief plan and Minster back pain control plan in the future. Your Minster chiropractor at Minster Chiropractic Center is well trained in the effects – good and bad – of spinal extension and respects its role in spinal health and motion.
SPINAL CURVES
Two of the spine’s most prominent curves – the cervical and lumbar curves – are lordotic curves meaning they curve inwardly. Flexion flattens these curves. Extension magnifies them. When a disc herniates or bulges, it does so into the concavity of the curve and potentially pushes on the spinal nerves causing pain. Flexion often allows the disc bulge to move off of the nerve. Extension often permits the disc bulge to press on the nerves more. Minster Chiropractic Center intends to help reduce painful situations like this!
SPINAL MOTION
75% of the flexion and extension movement in the low back occurs at the L5-S1 level of the lumbar spine. 20% happens at the L4-L5 level. Therefore, 95% of flexion and extension of the lumbar spine happens at these two lower disc levels. Here, degenerative disc disease (minor and more advanced) happens most. In the cervical spine, C5-C6 is the spinal level where most of the flexion occurs, and C4-C5 is where most of the extension occurs. Minster chiropractic patients need beneficial extension!
SPINAL EXTENSION
Minster Chiropractic Center respects extension and gets how it may help and hurt. The extensor muscles in the back weaken and degenerate just as discs do. (1) Extension helps strengthen these muscles to support the spine. Extension is necessary for this when the spine is healthy enough to do extension. Extension to a painful spine may be harmful. Why? In the cervical spine, flexion decreased disc protrusion and maximizes the sagittal diameter of the vertebral canal while extension increased the disc protrusion and narrowed the vertebral canal producing stenosis. (2) In a degenerative lumbar spine with spinal stenosis, flexion opened the vertebral canal and relieved pain while extension exacerbated the stenosis and triggered pain. (3) Minster Chiropractic Center understands the key to getting the benefits of extension is in recognizing when to use extension.
Minster CHIROPRACTIC USE OF EXTENSION
Minster chiropractic treatment incorporates extension into the Minster chiropractic treatment plan for its benefits. Cox® Technic applied to the cervical spine dropped intradiscal pressures to as low as 502 mmHg (4) and to as low as -192 mmHg in the lumbar spine. (5) Extension increased pressures in the lumbar spine to 1250 mmHg (the highest amount the transducer could measure). (4) Dropping intradiscal pressures and back pain is what Minster Chiropractic Center does for its Minster back pain patients.
CONTACT Minster Chiropractic Center
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. David Atiyeh on the Back Doctor’s Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson. He shares how he cared for a patient whose back pain persists after multiple back surgeries with flexion distraction which gives her relief as the table is flexed not extended.
Schedule your Minster chiropractic appointment with Minster Chiropractic Center today. Let us figure out the role extension might have in your back pain recovery and future back pain control strategy.
