February 2023 Healthy News from Executive Chiropractic of Iowa Spinal Canal Area Increase and Back Pain Reduction with Chiropractic Care
Do you have 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 diminishes, resulting in reduced spinal canal area. With spinal stenosis, a(n) disc bulge, herniated disc, osteophyte, discal cyst, synovial cyst, spinal cyst reduces the the area of the spinal cancal. A new paper explained how chiropractic flexion distraction treatment, namely Cox® Technic spinal manipulation and mobilization, increased the spinal canal area and created vertebral motions. The new study just published in January 2023 reported that chiropractic flexion distraction increased spinal area, height, and width due to increased nerve foraminal area. (1)
Such spinal modifications set the scene for impacted spinal elements like spinal nerves to ‘breathe’ leading to eventual (though sometimes quicker or even instantaneous for some patients) back pain relief. Outcomes and supporting research like this are the forces behind our use of gentle, safe chiropractic treatment options like Cox® Technic that has research explaining its biomechanical effects on the spine. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa invites you to share your degenerated disc and/or spinal stenosis with us!
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Ram Gudavalli, the guiding research investigator in Cox® Technic studies, on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes 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 enhance their in-office chiropractic care. Classic lumbar flexion (Williams) exercises have been the norm since the 1930s as they restrict lumbar extension while improving lumbar flexion with high levels of research evidence (III and IV) support. A common exercise sequence would have a patient lie on the floor, hands at the side, knees bent, then simply tighten abdominal and gluteal muscles while flattening the spine against the floor. The next would be a knee-chest motion (each single knee then both knees) exercise. (2) There are more such exercises in the series, but we’d be excited for our new West Des Moines back pain patients to start with these easy exercises on day 1 (after we go through a complete examinations and set a treatment plan, of course). Executive Chiropractic of Iowa looks forward to meeting you soon and learning more about your spine, degenerated disc, and/or spinal stenosis and sharing any exercises that may help!
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Have a wonderful February! We look forward to seeing you and your spine this month!