February 2023 Healthy News from Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC Spinal Canal Area Increase and Back Pain Reduction with Chiropractic Care
Do you suffer with back pain? Spinal stenosis? Degenerative disc disease? Do you know what they have in common (besides pain)? Reduced spinal canal area. With disc degeneration, the disc reduces, resulting in decreased spinal canal area. With spinal stenosis, a(n) disc bulge, protruding disc, osteophyte, discal cyst, synovial cyst, spinal cyst affects the the area of the spinal cancal. A newly published paper detailed how chiropractic flexion distraction treatment, specifically Cox® Technic spinal manipulation and mobilization, expanded the spinal canal area and created vertebral motions. The new study just published in January 2023 stated that chiropractic flexion distraction enlarged spinal area, height, and width due to increased nerve foraminal area. (1)
Such spinal modifications made more space for involved spinal elements like spinal nerves to glide leading to eventual (though occasionally quicker or even immediate for some patients) back pain relief. Outcomes and published research like this are the forces behind our choice to use gentle, safe chiropractic treatment approaches like Cox® Technic that has research explaining its biomechanical effects on the spine. Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC invites you to share your degenerated disc and/or spinal stenosis with us!
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Ram Gudavalli, the principal researcher in Cox® Technic studies, on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he details the research behind The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
Back pain sufferers are regularly advised to perform exercise that strengthen spinal, gluteal, and core muscles as a way to complement their in-office chiropractic care. Classic lumbar flexion (Williams) exercises have been standard for a long time, going back to the 1930s as they control lumbar extension while improving lumbar flexion with high levels of research evidence (III and IV) support. A typical exercise sequence would have a patient lie on the floor, hands at the side, knees bent, then simply tighten abdominal and gluteal muscles while pushing the spine flat against the floor. The next would be a knee-chest motion (pulling one knee to chest then the other knee then both knees to chest) exercise. (2) There are more such exercises in the series, but we’d be thrilled for our new La Grande back pain patients to start with these simple moves on day 1 (after we examine your spine and establish a treatment plan, of course). Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC looks forward to talking soon about you and your spinal stenotic, disc degenerative spine and any exercises that may help!
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Have a wonderful February! We anticipate seeing you and your spine this month!