Minster Chiropractic Care Respects Spinal Extension

Extension of the spine: It is good. It’s bad. So what is up with extension for the spine? Both are true: It’s valuable. It is harmful. It’s the job of your Minster chiropractor to help you establish the role of extension in your Minster back pain relief plan and Minster back pain control plan moving past the existing episode of back pain. Your Minster chiropractor at Minster Chiropractic Center 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 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 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 sets out to help lessen 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% is at the L4-L5 level. Therefore, 95% of flexion and extension of the lumbar spine occurs at these two lower disc levels. Here, degenerative disc disease (minor and more advanced) occurs 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 takes place. Minster chiropractic patients need healthy extension!

SPINAL EXTENSION

Minster Chiropractic Center respects extension and understands how it may help 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 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 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 produced pain. (3) Minster Chiropractic Center knows the key to getting the benefits of extension is in knowing when to apply extension.

Minster CHIROPRACTIC USE OF EXTENSION

Minster chiropractic treatment incorporates extension into the Minster 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 escalated pressures in the lumbar spine to 1250 mmHg (the most the transducer could measure). (4) Dropping intradiscal pressures and back pain is what Minster Chiropractic Center aims to do 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’s explore the role extension might play in your back pain recovery and future back pain control strategy.