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Carrolltown Chiropractic Care Respects Spinal Extension

Extension of the spine: It’s good. It is bad. So what’s with extension for the spine? Both are accurate: It is valuable. It is harmful. It’s the job of your Carrolltown chiropractor to help you decide the role of extension in your Carrolltown back pain relief plan and Carrolltown back pain control plan in the future. Your Carrolltown chiropractor at Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation is well versed 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 pushes on the spinal nerves causing pain. Flexion usually allows the disc bulge to get away from the nerve. Extension often permits the disc bulge to press on the nerves more. Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation wants 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% 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) 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. Carrolltown chiropractic patients need beneficial extension!

SPINAL EXTENSION

Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation respects extension and gets how it may benefit and harm. 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 widened the vertebral canal and reduced pain while extension exacerbated the stenosis and produced pain. (3) Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation knows the key to getting the benefits of extension is in knowing when to apply extension.

Carrolltown CHIROPRACTIC USE OF EXTENSION

Carrolltown chiropractic treatment incorporates extension into the Carrolltown 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 highest amount the transducer could measure). (4) Reducing intradiscal pressures and back pain is what Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation does for its Carrolltown back pain patients.

CONTACT Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation

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 gives her relief as the table is flexed not extended.

Schedule your Carrolltown chiropractic appointment with Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation today. Let’s explore the role extension might play in your back pain recovery and future back pain control strategy.

 Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation understands 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."