Extension of the spine: It is good. It’s bad.
So what is up with spinal extension?
Both are accurate: It is good. It is
bad. It’s the job of your Pensacola chiropractor to help you determine the role of extension for your Pensacola
back pain relief plan and Pensacola back pain control plan in the future.
Your Pensacola chiropractor at Pensacola Spinal Rehab 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 noticeable 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 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. Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center sets out to help lessen
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% is 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 takes place, and C4-C5 is where
most of the extension takes place. Pensacola chiropractic
patients need healthy extension!
SPINAL EXTENSION
Pensacola Spinal Rehab 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 do extension. Extension to a painful spine may hurt. 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 constricted 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) Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center knows
the key to eliciting the benefits of extension is in recognizing
when to use extension.
Pensacola CHIROPRACTIC USE OF EXTENSION
Pensacola chiropractic treatment integrates
extension into the Pensacola chiropractic treatment plan for its advantages.
Cox® Technic applied to 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) Dropping intradiscal pressures and back pain is what
Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center does for its Pensacola back pain
patients.
CONTACT Pensacola Spinal Rehab 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 Pensacola chiropractic appointment
with Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center today. Let us discover
the role extension might have in your back pain recovery and future
back pain control plan.