Curves are beautiful…in the right places!
Your spine is naturally curvy. Lordosis is the inward curving of the spine as seen in the cervical and lumbar spines. Kyphosis is the curving of the upper spine that creates the presentation of being hunched over. Normal lordosis is good. Too much kyphosis is bad! Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers recognizes the difference and is here to check out our Baton Rouge clients’ spines for curvature, be it painful or not.
One of the classic works on posture and its effect on the spine was done by Nachemson. Why share his name? Because he is one of the foundational researchers on the spine’s biomechanics. He published in the first ever edition of Spine! What an amazing researcher. His study showed what a variety of postures and changes did to spinal pressures (1):
from https://www.corporateseating.com.au/ergonomics
Just going from lying on your back to turning over to your side triples the spinal pressure. How often on a sleepless Baton Rouge night do you find yourself re-arranging? Slouching in your chair instead of sitting up straight raises up the spinal pressure. If you have a healthy spine, that’s fine. If you have a degenerative spine, it may be aggravating. That’s when you’ll want to contact Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers for a chiropractic evaluation.
Additionally, more current research from Spine shares that a kyphosis angle decreased significantly when research subjects changed from standing to lying prone by an average of 13.4° and the lordosis angle reduced by 16.6°. (2) Again, if the spine is healthy, no worry. If it’s unhealthy, it may hurt.
Like changing position affects spinal pressures, aging is another factor that affects spinal curvature. Research shares that aging significantly reduces lumbar spine lordosis by 8.2° and sacral position by 6.6° in standing subjects. Further, lumbar spine range of flexion (ROF) decreased by 7.7° which prompted the pelvic ROF to make up for this decrease by increasing 7.0°. (3) For every action, there is a reaction! Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers understands the spinal reactions!
So where might all of this information come into play? Daily life in Baton Rouge. This information may make you think twice when you are sitting in your chair at work or turning over in bed at home. The newest occupational research article addresses back pain in dental hygienists. It points to their posture and movement as risks for back pain. They combine spinal rotation and flexion while working in their clients’ mouths which puts demand on the extensor muscles of the low back, potentially setting them up for back pain. (4) What does your Baton Rouge job demand of your spine? Suggestions for how to avoid this risk haven’t been made yet. (It’s new research!) Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers will keep an eye out for those though!
So contact Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers for all your spinal concerns. It’s not bad to be curvy, but it’s best to be curvy in the right places! Let your Baton Rouge chiropractor evaluate your spine.