Extension of the spine: It’s beneficial. It is harmful.
So what’s with extension for the spine?
Both are true: It’s good. It’s
bad. It
is the job of your Manahawkin chiropractor to help you determine the role of extension in your Manahawkin
back pain relief plan and Manahawkin back pain control plan in the future.
Your Manahawkin chiropractor at Manahawkin Chiropractic Center is well experienced
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 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 pushes
on the spinal nerves causing pain. Flexion often
permits the disc bulge to get away from the
nerve. Extension often permits the disc bulge to compress
the nerves more. Manahawkin Chiropractic Center intends to help decrease
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 occurs
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. Manahawkin chiropractic
patients need healthy extension!
SPINAL EXTENSION
Manahawkin Chiropractic Center respects extension and understands
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 hurt. Why? In the cervical spine, flexion reduced disc
protrusion and enlarges 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 widened
the vertebral canal and relieved pain while extension exacerbated
the stenosis and triggered pain. (3) Manahawkin Chiropractic Center knows
the key to getting the benefits of extension is in knowing
when to use extension.
Manahawkin CHIROPRACTIC USE OF EXTENSION
Manahawkin chiropractic treatment integrates
extension into the Manahawkin chiropractic treatment plan for its advantages.
Cox® Technic used with 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 escalated pressures in the lumbar
spine to 1250 mmHg (the highest amount the transducer could measure).
(4) Reducing intradiscal pressures and back pain is what
Manahawkin Chiropractic Center does for its Manahawkin back pain
patients.
CONTACT Manahawkin Chiropractic Center
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 relieves her pain
as the table is flexed not extended.
Schedule your Manahawkin chiropractic appointment
with Manahawkin Chiropractic Center today. Let us discover
the role extension might play in your back pain recovery and future
back pain control plan.