Extension of the spine: It’s beneficial. It is harmful.
So what is up with extension for the spine?
Both are true: It is good. It’s
bad. It
is the job of your La Grande chiropractor to help you figure
out the role of extension for your La Grande
back pain relief plan and La Grande back pain control plan getting
past the present episode of back pain.
Your La Grande chiropractor at Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC 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 presses
on the spinal nerves resulting in pain. Flexion usually
permits the disc bulge to get away from the
nerve. Extension often allows the disc bulge to compress
the nerves more. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC intends to help decrease
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 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 takes place, and C4-C5 is where
most of the extension takes place. La Grande chiropractic
patients need beneficial extension!
SPINAL EXTENSION
Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC respects extension and gets
how it may help and harm. 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 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 constricted the vertebral canal producing
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) Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC understands
the key to getting the benefits of extension is in recognizing
when to use extension.
La Grande CHIROPRACTIC USE OF EXTENSION
La Grande chiropractic treatment incorporates
extension into the La Grande 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 increased pressures in the lumbar
spine to 1250 mmHg (the most the transducer could measure).
(4) Dropping intradiscal pressures and back pain is what
Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC aims to do for its La Grande back pain
patients.
CONTACT Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC
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 relieves her pain
as the table is flexed not extended.
Schedule your La Grande chiropractic appointment
with Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC today. Let’s figure out
the role extension might have in your back pain recovery and future
back pain control plan.