What is Lumbar Lordosis?

Summary

This video discusses lumbar lordosis, a natural curvature in the lower spine. The speaker explains how spinal curvatures, like lordosis and kyphosis, enhance spinal strength, flexibility, and stress distribution. The normal lumbar lordosis range is between 30-50 degrees, and deviations can cause problems. Hyperlordosis (increased curvature) and hypolordosis (reduced curvature) lead to issues like pain and spinal degeneration. Causes of abnormal lordosis include trauma, spinal fusion surgery, and conditions like ankylosing spondylitis. The video emphasizes the importance of maintaining proper spinal alignment through exercises, ergonomics, and medical evaluations.

Takeaways

• 🌟 Lumbar lordosis refers to the natural inward curve of the lower back, which is essential for spinal strength, flexibility, and even distribution of mechanical stress.
• 🔍 Spinal curvatures are classified into lordosis (forward bending) and kyphosis (backwards bending), with each type having a designated area in the spine: cervical lordosis, thoracic kyphosis, and lumbar lordosis.
• 📏 The ideal lumbar lordosis angle is around 40 degrees, with a normal range extending from 30 to 50 degrees, depending on individual body types.
• ⚠️ Decreased lumbar lordosis, or hypolordosis, can lead to spinal issues and pain, similar to how abnormal blood pressure readings can lead to health problems.
• ⬆️ Increased lumbar lordosis, or hyperlordosis, can also cause problems, highlighting the importance of maintaining the normal spinal curvature for optimal spinal health.
• 🤕 Causes of hypolordosis can include spinal fusion surgeries, trauma, and conditions like ankylosing spondylitis, which can lead to the fusion of spinal ligaments and discs.
• 🏋️‍♂️ Maintaining normal spinal curvatures involves proper evaluation, spinal rehabilitative exercises, good ergonomics, and avoiding repetitive trauma to the spine.
• 👩‍⚕️ The Scoliosis Reduction Center emphasizes the importance of restoring normal spinal alignment in all three dimensions to provide the best prognosis and outcomes for patients.
• 🔄 Abnormal spinal alignment can lead to degenerative disc disease and other issues, underscoring the need for comprehensive spinal care and maintenance.
• 📢 The video script serves as an educational resource, encouraging viewers to engage with the content by requesting further information on scoliosis and related topics.

Q & A

What is lumbar lordosis?

Lumbar lordosis refers to the natural inward or forward curvature of the lower back region of the spine. It is one of the spinal curvatures that exist to increase strength, improve flexibility, and distribute mechanical stress evenly across the spine.

What is the significance of spinal curvatures?

Spinal curvatures are significant as they help to increase the strength of the spine, improve its flexibility, and most importantly, distribute mechanical stress and gravitational forces evenly, making the spine more absorbent to impacts over time.

What are the two main types of spinal curvatures seen from the side view?

The two main types of spinal curvatures seen from the side view are kyphosis, which is a backward bending curvature, and lordosis, which is a forward bending curvature.

What is the expected curvature for the lumbar spine?

The expected curvature for the lumbar spine is a lordosis, which should ideally be about 40 degrees. However, it can vary within a normal range of approximately 30 to 50 degrees depending on the individual's body shape and type.

What problems can arise from decreased lumbar lordosis?

Decreased lumbar lordosis, or a hypolordosis, can lead to symptoms and problems such as low back pain, mid back pain, and even neck pain due to the altered spinal alignment affecting the entire spine's efficiency in dealing with gravitational forces.

How can increased lumbar lordosis, or hyperlordosis, affect an individual?

Increased lumbar lordosis, or hyperlordosis, can also lead to similar problems and symptoms as decreased lordosis. It can cause abnormal distribution of forces on the spine, resulting in pain and potentially other spinal issues.

What are some causes of loss of lumbar lordosis or hypolordosis?

Causes of loss of lumbar lordosis or hypolordosis can include spinal fusion surgeries like Harrington rod fusions, trauma and injury, and conditions such as ankylosing spondylitis, which causes fusion of the ligaments and discs of the spine.

How can maintaining normal lumbar lordosis help prevent spinal issues?

Maintaining normal lumbar lordosis helps prevent spinal issues by ensuring proper spinal alignment and distribution of forces, which reduces the risk of degenerative disc disease, spinal deformities, and pain.

What role do spinal rehabilitative exercises play in maintaining normal spinal curvatures?

Spinal rehabilitative exercises are crucial in maintaining normal spinal curvatures by strengthening the supporting muscles, improving flexibility, and promoting overall spinal health, thus helping to prevent abnormal spinal curvatures and related issues.

Why is it important to evaluate the spine in three dimensions?

Evaluating the spine in three dimensions is important because the spine can shift out of alignment in multiple planes. Restoring alignment in all three dimensions ensures the best possible prognosis and outcome for patients dealing with abnormal spinal alignment.