Do Spinal Curves In Your Neck, Mid Back
and Lower Back Affect Your Health?
Chiropractic was founded in 1895 after the hearing was restored in a
patient following a spinal adjustment to the upper region of the spine.
Since then, our profession has been conducting research to help
determine why spinal manipulation or adjustments work so well.
Many conditions have been studied, as well as the physiological
responses to the adjustment including blood chemistry changes including
hormone levels, blood pressure changes, circulation changes, and many
other parameters of health.
Posture, bone alignment and spinal curves have been long been evaluated
in patients presenting with muscle and joint complaints by most of the
health care professions, including chiropractic.
But
the question remains: how important are spinal curves in the overall
health picture of the patient? Can alterations in the "normal" curve
lead to future trouble or, be the cause of a current condition?
A recent study reported the results after conducting a "systematic
critical literature review" where all research published on this subject
was reviewed for quality and content.
They gathered 54 studies published between 1942 and 2008, which
included over 20,000 patients and reported the association between the
sagittal curve (curves when looking at a person from the side) and
various health conditions.
There were many different types of studies and methods used to evaluate
the sagittal curves of the lumbar (low back) (38 studies), thoracic
(mid back) (34 studies) and cervical (neck) (6 studies) spine.
These methods included plain x-ray (25 studies), MRI (1 study),
photographs (3 studies) visual analysis or, by the eye (5 studies) and
those using a variety of instruments (21 studies).
A strong association was reported in five studies with an increased
angle in the midback/thoracic spine (kyphosis - sometimes referred to as
"humpback") with lung disorders causing breathing problems.
Poor physical function and pelvic organ prolapse were also strongly associated with kyphosis.
A moderate association was found when the low back curve (lordosis) was
reduced, which was associated with an increase in low back pain.
Similarly, future osteoporotic midback/thoracic compression fractures
were moderately associated with kyphosis or "humpback" deformity.
Kyphosis was also moderately associated with heavy household activity,
uterine prolapsed and death in three other studies.
No association was found in many studies.
The conclusion of the article reports that most of the studies did not
fulfill the basic requirements for this type of study or had design
flaws.
They encouraged researchers to use new/better approaches to study this
association between spinal curves and health and disease.