Extension of the spine: It’s good. It
is bad.
So what is up with spinal extension?
Both are accurate: It’s good. It is
bad. It
is the job of your Groton chiropractor to help you figure
out the role of extension in your Groton
back pain relief plan and Groton back pain control plan in the future.
Your Groton chiropractor at Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office is well experienced
in the effects – good and bad – of spinal extension and respects its role in spinal
health and mobility.
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 presses
on the spinal nerves causing pain. Flexion often
allows the disc bulge to move off of the
nerve. Extension often allows the disc bulge to press on
the nerves more. Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office wants to help decrease
painful situations like this!
SPINAL MOTION
75% of the flexion and extension movement in the low back happens
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 takes place, and C4-C5 is where
most of the extension occurs. Groton chiropractic
patients need beneficial extension!
SPINAL EXTENSION
Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office respects extension and gets
how it may benefit and hurt. The extensor muscles in the
back weaken and degenerate just as discs degenerate. (1)
Extension helps strengthen these muscles to support the spine. Extension is essential
for this when the spine is healthy enough to perform extension. Extension to a painful spine may be
harmful. Why? In the cervical spine, flexion decreased disc
protrusion and enlarges the sagittal diameter of the vertebral
canal while extension increased the disc protrusion and constricted the vertebral canal causing
stenosis. (2) In a degenerative lumbar spine with spinal stenosis, flexion opened
the vertebral canal and relieved pain while extension exacerbated
the stenosis and caused pain. (3) Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office understands
the key to eliciting the benefits of extension is in recognizing
when to apply extension.
Groton CHIROPRACTIC USE OF EXTENSION
Groton chiropractic treatment integrates
extension into the Groton chiropractic treatment plan for its benefits.
Cox® Technic applied to the cervical spine reduced
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
Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office does for its Groton back pain
patients.
CONTACT Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. David Atiyeh on the Back
Doctor’s Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson. He shares how he helped
a patient whose back pain continues after multiple back
surgeries with flexion distraction which gives her relief
as the table is flexed not extended.
Schedule your Groton chiropractic appointment
with Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office today. Let us discover
the role extension might have in your back pain recovery and future
back pain control strategy.