Oxford Chiropractic Care Respects Spinal Extension
Extension of the spine: It’s beneficial. It is harmful. So what’s with spinal extension? Both are accurate: It is beneficial. It’s harmful. It’s the job of your Oxford chiropractor to help you decide the role of extension for your Oxford back pain relief plan and Oxford back pain control plan getting past the present episode of back pain. Your Oxford chiropractor at Satterwhite Chiropractic 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 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 presses on the spinal nerves causing pain. Flexion usually permits the disc bulge to move off of the nerve. Extension often allows the disc bulge to press on the nerves more. Satterwhite Chiropractic intends to help lessen painful situations like this!
SPINAL MOTION
75% of the flexion and extension movement in the low back happens 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. Oxford chiropractic patients need healthy extension!
SPINAL EXTENSION
Satterwhite Chiropractic respects extension and understands how it may help and harm. The extensor muscles in the back weaken and degenerate just like discs do. (1) Extension helps strengthen these muscles to support the spine. Extension is essential for this when the spine is healthy enough to do extension. Extension to a painful spine may be harmful. Why? In the cervical spine, flexion decreased 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 produced pain. (3) Satterwhite Chiropractic knows the key to getting the benefits of extension is in knowing when to apply extension.
Oxford CHIROPRACTIC USE OF EXTENSION
Oxford chiropractic treatment integrates extension into the Oxford chiropractic treatment plan for its benefits. Cox® Technic applied to 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 increased pressures in the lumbar spine to 1250 mmHg (the most the transducer could measure). (4) Dropping intradiscal pressures and back pain is what Satterwhite Chiropractic aims to do for its Oxford back pain patients.
CONTACT Satterwhite Chiropractic
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 Oxford chiropractic appointment with Satterwhite Chiropractic today. Let’s explore the role extension might have in your back pain recovery and future back pain control strategy.
