Auburn Chiropractic Care Respects Spinal Extension

Extension of the spine: It’s good. It’s bad. So what is up with extension for the spine? Both are true: It’s good. It’s bad. It’s the job of your Auburn chiropractor to help you determine the role of extension in your Auburn back pain relief plan and Auburn back pain control plan getting past the current episode of back pain. Your Auburn chiropractor at Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. 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 pushes on the spinal nerves causing pain. Flexion often allows the disc bulge to get away from the nerve. Extension often permits the disc bulge to press on the nerves more. Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. wants 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% 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) 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 occurs. Auburn chiropractic patients need beneficial extension!

SPINAL EXTENSION

Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. respects extension and gets how it may benefit and harm. 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 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 maximizes the sagittal diameter of the vertebral canal while extension increased the disc protrusion and narrowed the vertebral canal causing stenosis. (2) In a degenerative lumbar spine with spinal stenosis, flexion opened the vertebral canal and reduced pain while extension exacerbated the stenosis and produced pain. (3) Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. understands the key to eliciting the benefits of extension is in recognizing when to apply extension.

Auburn CHIROPRACTIC USE OF EXTENSION

Auburn chiropractic treatment incorporates extension into the Auburn chiropractic treatment plan for its advantages. 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 highest amount the transducer could measure). (4) Dropping intradiscal pressures and back pain is what Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. does for its Auburn back pain patients.

CONTACT Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C.

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 Auburn chiropractic appointment with Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. today. Let’s figure out the role extension might play in your back pain recovery and future back pain control plan.