Fort Wayne Chiropractic Care Respects Spinal Extension

Extension of the spine: It is valuable. It is harmful. So what is up with extension for the spine? Both are accurate: It’s good. It is bad. It is the job of your Fort Wayne chiropractor to help you decide the role of extension for your Fort Wayne back pain relief plan and Fort Wayne back pain control plan getting past the current episode of back pain. Your Fort Wayne chiropractor at Aaron Chiropractic Clinic is well versed 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 noticeable curves – the cervical and lumbar curves – are lordotic curves meaning they curve concavely. 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 resulting in pain. Flexion usually allows the disc bulge to get away from the nerve. Extension often permits the disc bulge to compress the nerves more. Aaron Chiropractic Clinic sets out to help reduce painful situations like this!

SPINAL MOTION

75% of the flexion and extension movement in the low back is at the L5-S1 level of the lumbar spine. 20% occurs 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 takes place. Fort Wayne chiropractic patients need beneficial extension!

SPINAL EXTENSION

Aaron Chiropractic Clinic respects extension and gets how it may benefit and harm. The extensor muscles in the back weaken and degenerate just like discs do. (1) Extension helps strengthen these muscles to support the spine. Extension is necessary 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 reduced disc protrusion and enlarges the sagittal diameter of the vertebral canal while extension made the disc herniation larger and narrowed the vertebral canal causing stenosis. (2) In a degenerative lumbar spine with spinal stenosis, flexion opened the vertebral canal and relieved pain while extension worsened the stenosis and produced pain. (3) Aaron Chiropractic Clinic understands the key to eliciting the benefits of extension is in knowing when to use extension.

Fort Wayne CHIROPRACTIC USE OF EXTENSION

Fort Wayne chiropractic treatment incorporates extension into the Fort Wayne chiropractic treatment plan for its benefits. Cox® Technic used with 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) Reducing intradiscal pressures and back pain is what Aaron Chiropractic Clinic aims to do for its Fort Wayne back pain patients.

CONTACT Aaron Chiropractic Clinic

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 continues after multiple back surgeries with flexion distraction which relieves her pain as the table is flexed not extended.

Schedule your Fort Wayne chiropractic appointment with Aaron Chiropractic Clinic today. Let us explore the role extension might play in your back pain recovery and future back pain control plan.