West Palm Beach Back Muscles Affected By Back Pain

The spine is maintained by several muscles. Back pain and degenerative spine disorders impact those muscles. Chiropractors like yours at Moses Chiropractic deal with both the degenerative spinal pain condition and the related degenerated spine muscles. West Palm Beach chiropractic back pain treatment plans integrate pain-relieving methods for both the spine and its musculature.

BACK PAIN AND MUSCLES’ RESPONSES

Back pain impacts back muscles. Different West Palm Beach back pain issues impact different West Palm Beach back muscles, too. Paraspinal muscles exhibit different responses to spinal degenerative conditions. Alterations in the lumbar spine paraspinal muscles of low back pain patients have been explained. Atrophy of the multifidus muscles in patients with back pain, lumbar radiculopathy, and lumbar degenerative kyphosis are particularly noted. Increased fat infiltration of the multifidus muscle is also seen in patients with lumbar radiculopathy and lumbar degenerative kyphosis. (1) In a study of 78 patients with either degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis or degenerative lumbar kyphosis, researchers documented these degenerative muscle patterns. The multifidus muscle is seen as the stabilizer of the lumbar spine segments while the erector spinae muscles tend to be seen as the stabilizers of spinal sagittal balance. Multifidus muscle degeneration was more significant in the patients with degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis. Erector spinae degeneration was more significant in the degenerative lumbar kyphosis patients as well as more closely linked to the severity of spinal kyphosis curvature. (2) Continuous chronic low back pain sufferers as contrasted with non-continuous and recurrent low back pain sufferers were found to have higher EMG activity in erector spinae and multifidus muscles in extension. (3) Your West Palm Beach chiropractor at Moses Chiropractic takes great care in addressing these differences.

BACK PAIN AND BACK MUSCLES: STABILITY

Moses Chiropractic also notes back pain and muscle response on spinal stability. Researchers explained that chronic low back pain weakens spinal stability of its sufferers. In looking at the activation patterns of the latissimus dorsi, gluteus maximus, and upward scapular rotation muscles of chronic LBP patients, researchers documented a significant rise in upward scapular rotation in all shoulder abduction positions on both sides. The left side was more significant than the right. Further, they found increased latissimus dorsi muscle activities and reduced gluteus maximus activities in chronic low back pain. (4) Spinal manipulation is described as eliciting transient physiological responses of which paraspinal muscle activity and muscle spindle responses are added. (5) Your West Palm Beach chiropractor will carefully note these responses when treating your spine as well as in designing exercises to address weaknesses. 

CONTACT Moses Chiropractic

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Paulette Hugulet on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson. She describes her implementation of spinal manipulation, namely the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management, for a 77-year-old patient to decrease pain and improve muscle function and strength.