You Must Crawl Before You Can Walk!

Note - The pictures of the spines mentioned below will be forthcoming soon! I thank you for your patience!

The following pictures illustrate different spinal postures of the adult spine, ranging from ideal spinal posture to an abnormal, unhealthy spinal posture. At birth, an infant’s spine has only one major curvature, similar to a “C” curve, due to being in the womb for the duration of the pregnancy. The neck and low back curves develop prior to walking. The baby will begin to develop these curves when crawling begins. The neck curve develops by the baby constantly holding his/her head up during crawling. The low back curve develops in a similar fashion, assisted by gravity pulling downward on the baby’s belly when the baby is repeatedly in the act of crawling.

The black line shown above illustrates the “C” curve in a fetal spine

The first spinal picture (shown below) represents a model of a human spine with near perfect curvatures. The majority of Americans have spines with abnormal curvatures, and this may help to explain why 80% of Americans will suffer from low back pain at some point in their lifetime. Interestingly enough, people who do have near perfect curvatures are most likely following some form of preventative care to maintain the health. inte2ritv. and curvature of their spines. Chiropractic care is one of the best choices you can make in maintaining the health and curvatures of your spine.

The second spinal picture (shown below) represents a model of a spine, which has lost curvature in the neck, mid-back, and low back regions. Although some curvature still exists in these areas, spinal degeneration will most likely set in if action is not taken to improve the spinal curvatures. Secondly, the spinal discs, which act as small “shock absorbers”, will be subject to abnormal loads and can begin to degenerate, causing possible future problems to surface, such as irritation to the spinal nerves - this can lead to pain, numbness. tingling, and possible loss of sensation in certain body parts. At this point, Chiropractic care and spinal postural exercises can be very effective in preventing further loss of curvatures, as well as helping to improve the existing curvatures.

The third spinal picture (shown below) represents a spine that has lost nearly all of its curvatures. At this point, degeneration is almost guaranteed to set in, because abnormal spinal curvatures lead to abnormal function of the spinal column. A person with these spinal curvatures is usually past the age of 50 years, and has abused their spine and posture for many years. Spinal degeneration, bone spurs, disc degeneration, and many symptoms such as pain, stiffness and loss of spinal range of motion are very commonly seen in people who have spinal curvatures similar to this. At this end stage, even though it is more challenging, quality Chiropractic care can help to prevent further loss of curvature and spinal degeneration, and may also be able to actually improve the curvatures that have been lost over the years.

Do you know what your spine looks like? Without taking pictures of the spine, it is difficult to know. Schedule an appointment today to begin taking care of your spine the right way. Remember that you get only one spine per lifetime - choose to take care of it!