Baton Rouge Chiropractic Care Respects Spinal Extension

Extension of the spine: It is valuable. It is harmful. So what’s with extension for the spine? Both are accurate: It is good. It’s bad. It is the job of your Baton Rouge chiropractor to help you decide the role of extension for your Baton Rouge back pain relief plan and Baton Rouge back pain control plan moving past the existing episode of back pain. Your Baton Rouge chiropractor at Spine & Sports 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 resulting in pain. Flexion often allows the disc bulge to move off of the nerve. Extension often allows the disc bulge to compress the nerves more. Spine & Sports Rehab Center sets out to help reduce 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% 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) 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. Baton Rouge chiropractic patients need healthy extension!

SPINAL EXTENSION

Spine & Sports Rehab Center respects extension and understands how it may benefit and hurt. The extensor muscles in the back weaken and degenerate just like 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 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 relieved pain while extension worsened the stenosis and triggered pain. (3) Spine & Sports Rehab Center knows the key to getting the benefits of extension is in knowing when to apply extension.

Baton Rouge CHIROPRACTIC USE OF EXTENSION

Baton Rouge chiropractic treatment incorporates extension into the Baton Rouge 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 highest amount the transducer could measure). (4) Dropping intradiscal pressures and back pain is what Spine & Sports Rehab Center aims to do for its Baton Rouge back pain patients.

CONTACT Spine & Sports Rehab 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 Baton Rouge chiropractic appointment with Spine & Sports Rehab Center today. Let’s discover the role extension might play in your back pain recovery and future back pain control strategy.

 Spine & Sports Rehab Center knows the role of extension in spinal motion, its necessity, its benefits and potential harmful effects.  
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"This information and website content is not intended to diagnose, guarantee results, or recommend specific treatment or activity. It is designed to educate and inform only. Please consult your physician for a thorough examination leading to a diagnosis and well-planned treatment strategy. See more details on the DISCLAIMER page. Content is reviewed by Dr. James M. Cox I."