Chronic Low Back Pain treated with Lumbar Joint Mobilization

Lumbar Joint Mobilization helps reduce back pain.Low Back Pain costs the U.S. economy over 100 billion dollars a year due to lost wages and productivity. Besides that, it really hurts when you cannot move your back due to the pain. For this topic let's point out that back pain usually involves several things. There is loss of mobility, there is a decrease in the disc height and potentially joint damage.Joint mobilization has been used to treat lumbar spine. for over 100 years. Both Osteopathic and Chiropractic physicians routinely use joint mobilization as a means of reducing back pain. When a spinal bone is out of place it is called a subluxation. By mobilizing the spinal joint several physiological events take place to bring about the reduction in lower back pain.Physical stress is reduced through lumbar joint mobilization by putting the offending bone back into it's proper place. The spinal ligaments that attach bone to bone will have less stress placed on the ligaments' elastic properties. The body tends to prefer homeostatic conditions. For additional consideration, the subluxated vertebra exerts pressure in an uneven fashion which can contribute to excessive wear and tear on the joint. It should be easy enough to understand that excessive wear and tear eventually results in degenerative conditions in the joint.Lumbar joint mobilization has been shown to increase the intervertebral disc height. The mechanism of reducing stress on the joints by restoring proper alignment allows for greater levels of osmotic activity. The intervertebral disc height has been shown to expand post joint mobilization. The intervertebral disc acts as a shock absorber. The greater the water content the greater the shock absorbancy.A dehydrated disc is called a desiccated disc. Disc desiccation is a common feature of degenerative disc disease. Uneven pressure on the desiccated disc complicates the dehydration. A vertebral subluxation places extra physical stress on the disc. Studies show a 4.2% increase in the apparent diffusion coefficient in the middle portion of the L5-S1 intervertebral disc after extension based lumbar joint mobilization. What this tells us is that joint mobilization allows the water content to be better disbursed across the center part of the disc. Disc desiccation can be partially reversed.To make it easier to understand disc desiccation consider this, you leave home for a few days. Upon returning you have a sponge on the side of your sink that gets dried out and shrinks. This is similar to what happens when there is a subluxation exerting uneven forces on the lumbar disc. Think of the disc as a sponge, and the sponge "desiccates" or dries out it loses its cushioning properties. When you mobilize the lumbar spine you get better displacement of the fluids in the disc which enhances the shock-absorbing properties. A plump fluid-filled disc allows for tighter tension on the spinal ligaments. The ligaments help attach bones to adjacent spinal bones. When there is ligament laxity due to a decrease in vertebral disc height that accompanies disc desiccation it allows the spinal bones to subluxate. A subluxation can be addressed with lumbar joint mobilization.Lumbar joint mobilization has been shown to be a valid treatment to alleviate chronic lower pain due to disc desiccation as well as subluxation.Have a Question? Just AskThis podcast welcomes your feedback here are several ways to reach out to me. If you have a topic you would like to hear about send me a message.  I appreciate your listening. Dr. Brian Mc Kayhttps://twitter.com/DarienChiro/https://www.facebook.com/ChiropractorBrianMckayhttps://chiropractor-darien-dr-brian-mckay.business.sitehttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/not-just-chiropractor-for-stamford-darien-norwalk-new/id1503674397?uo=4Core Health Darien-Dr.Brian Mc Kay 551 Post RoadDarien CT 06820203-656-363641.0833695 -73.46652073GMP+87 Darien, Connecticuthttps://youtu.be/WpA__dDF0O041.0834196 -73.46423349999999https://darienchiropractor.comhttps://darienchiropractor.com/darien/darien-ct-understanding-pain/Find us on Social Mediahttps://chiropractor-darien-dr-brian-mckay.business.site  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNHc0Hn85Iiet56oGUpX8rwhttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nJ9wlvg2Tne8257paDkkIBEyIz-oZZYy/edit#gid=517721981https://goo.gl/maps/js6hGWvcwHKBGCZ88https://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=Uhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/darienchiropractorhttps://www.facebook.com/ChiropractorBrianMckayhttps://sites.google.com/view/corehealthdarien/https://sites.google.com/view/corehealthdarien/home