Lumbar lordosis straightening: Know the risks and how to overcome

Humans have become couch potatoes as a result of scientific inventions and discoveries. Unhealthy lifestyles and poor posture have endowed them with a slew of diseases that our forefathers were unaware of.

Do you know? The aberrant postures will alter the usual curvature of our precious backbone, resulting in spine complications. Lumbar lordosis straightening is one such complicated issue.

Before probing onto our focused area, straightening of normal lumbar lordosis, let’s first understand the abnormalities in the spine.

Types of Spinal Deformities

We are all aware that our spine has natural neck, midback, and lower back curves. These curves give an attractive shape to the human body. However, going with the saying, “Too much of something is not good for anything,” when this natural curvature becomes exaggerated, it will result in posture abnormalities. The different types of spinal abnormalities are lordosis, kyphosis, scoliosis, and flatback syndrome.

• Lordosis (hyper lordosis)

What is lordosis? Lordosis is the normal inward curvature of our spine in the neck or lower back. When this lordosis curve bends extremely, it will cause hyperlordosis. (Often, this abnormality is also referred to as lordosis.) Cervical lordosis is less common, whereas the extreme inward curving of the lumbar spine is more common and can cause severe low back pain. People with lumbar lordosis appear to sway backward.

• Kyphosis (Hyperkyphosis)

Kyphosis is the normal outward curve in the upper back. Hyperkyphosis, or round back, refers to an unnatural curving of the upper back. (Hyper Kyphosis is also addressed as kyphosis.) The main difference seen in lordosis vs. kyphosis is that lordosis curves inwards exceptionally, while kyphosis curves outwards exceedingly, causing people to hunch forward. Kyphosis can cause lumbar lordosis when the spine is unable to balance the weight of the body due to a hunched back.

• Scoliosis

Scoliosis is the abnormal curving or bending of the spine to the side. This can be congenital or develop during childhood, adolescence, adulthood, or old age. However, it is most common during the pre-puberty period, and it becomes more severe as the children grow. Scoliosis can be classified into four types: thoracolumbar scoliosis, cervical scoliosis, thoracic scoliosis, and lumbar scoliosis. Based on the side of the scoliosis curve, we can classify them into levoscoliosis, dextroscoliosis, and thoracolumbar scoliosis.

• The flatback syndrome

The flatback syndrome is a spinal condition in which the natural spinal curve becomes straightened. The straightening of the normal curve can happen either in the upper or lower back, where the straightening of thoracic kyphosis and/or lumbar lordosis occurs.

What is straightening of lordotic curvature?

Do you have any idea on – what is straightening of lumbar spine? The lumbar spine has a natural inward curve that aids the spine in maintaining the human body’s equilibrium. The straightening of lumbar curvature occurs as a result of improper postures while sitting, standing, or other issues, causing balancing problems. The loss of lordosis is referred to as lumbar lordosis straightening or lumbar flatback syndrome. Generally, this lumbar vertebral curvature is straightened as a result of the tightening of the lower back muscles or muscle spasm. Straightening of lumbar spine due to muscle spasm can be cured.

What causes the straightening of lumbar lordosis?

Can you envision a human body with no spinal curves? Consider a man walking upright as if he were a robot. He can’t even bend or move flexibly enough to perform daily tasks. Thinking of it will definitely send shivers down the spine. Straightening of the lumbar spine or hypolordosis lumbar spine is something similar to that.

People with a history of prior surgeries, osteoarthritis, bad posture, obesity, and degenerative diseases are more prone to the straightening of the lordosis. Let’s see in detail what makes the lumbar lordosis straightened.

• Scoliosis treatment: The braces used in scoliosis correction surgery to straighten the spine back to its original position can occasionally cause the lumbar spine to lose its normal lordosis. The Harrington rod used in surgeries to reshape the lower lumbar spine too can straighten the spine and lead to lumbar lordotic straightening. This can cause spine instability and loss of balance.
• Ankylosing Spondylitis: It’s a kind of inflammatory arthritis in which the spine loses flexibility and becomes stiff. This generally starts in the lumbar spine and propagates to other areas. This loss of flexibility can result in straightening lumbar lordosis and severe lower back pain.
• Degenerative Disc Disease: The spinal discs may dry out and degenerate as a result of wear and tear, leading to a reduction in spine flexibility. This may necessitate fusion surgery, in which one or more levels of vertebrae are fused to provide stability. The fusion surgery thus becomes a reason for straightening of lumbar spine.
• Vertebral Compression Fractures: Compression fractures in the vertebrae result in the disintegration of one or more weak vertebrae, resulting in a reduction in spinal height. Thus, it can spring the loss of the lumbar lordosis.
• Post Lumbar Laminectomy Syndrome: People who had lumbar Laminectomy or other decompression surgeries for spinal stenosis may have a decrease in the lumbar curve.
• Hyperkyphosis: People who have a rounded back or hyperkyphosis are more likely to develop straightening lordosis in the lumbar.
• Trauma-induced: This is more likely to occur in children who have fallen from a great height, sustained a sports injury, or been involved in a traumatic car accident. When one or more vertebrae crack or fracture, the lumbar lordosis tends to straighten in the future.

 Straightening of Lumbar Lordosis Symptoms

Loss of lumbar lordosis is, in simple words, a muscle spasm. It could create muscular pain, severe enough to deprive one of sleep. If left unattended and taken care of, straightening of spine in lumbar region can lead to various grave issues.

People with flatback syndrome in the lumbar region tend to use other muscles in the various body parts to balance the body. This will create a lot many other musculoskeletal disorders to come in procession. For example, after the lumbar lordosis is straightened, the iliopsoas muscle in the hip is not much used. This, in a way, leads to the weakening of these muscles. Weakening of the abdominal muscles also adds to the agony. The straightening of lumbar spine symptoms can be as listed below:

• Difficulty in standing straight and upright
• Chances to fall down due to imbalance
• Tightness in the hamstring
• Chronic pain in the lower back
• Inability to maintain proper posture
• Overexertion of other muscles leads to wear and tear to those parts
• Chronic pain spreads to cervical and thoracic spine regions

Diagnosis of Straightened Lumbar Curvature

Physical examination and gait analysis will be used by the doctors to assess the loss of lumbar lordosis. They can figure it out by looking at the surgical and congenital history of spine-related issues.

To diagnose the loss of lumbar lordosis, generally, lateral x-rays can be fruitful. Since the sagittal view of the human spine only shows a straight spine, a lateral view is preferred to view the natural curves of the backbone.

X-rays are taken by making the patient stand at full length to know the defects in the spinal curves. This will reveal if any straightening lumbar lordosis has occurred.

To understand the severity and intensity of the loss of lumbar spine lordosis, the patient has to get CT scans and MRI scans. These will exhibit the presence of any nerve compression due to the flat back syndrome.

Lumbar Lordosis Straightening Treatment

Is straightening of lumbar spine curable? or How to restore lumbar curve? Mild straightening of lumbar spine may be cured in due course of time even without any therapies or treatment as mild straightening of lumbar lordosis is easily reversible.  Moderate straightening of lumbar curvature due to muscle spasm can be treated easiliy with medications or therapies. On the other hand, severe conditions will necessitate surgery to correct the straightening of the lumbar lordosis.

Let’s look at the various treatments for lumbar lordosis straightening.

• Pain medications: Pain relievers are prescribed to reduce swelling and pain in the lower back. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can alleviate symptoms associated with mild loss of lumbar lordotic curve.
• Physical therapy and Exercise programs: Doing physical therapy daily to strengthen muscles and increase range of motion can help to relieve pain. Strengthening exercises for the neck, shoulder, back, and buttocks will help restore the natural curvature of the lumbar spine. Planks, side-leg raises, chest stretches, pull-ups, back extensions, and hamstring stretches are likely to help with straightening lordosis in the lumbar.
• Weight loss therapies: People with more fat in the middle part of their body are more susceptible to health issues in the lower back. Even people with back pain would benefit from beginning with gentle and light exercises to lose weight. Some exercises can be performed in water because the buoyancy of the water makes the pain bearable. This will keep people from gaining weight and will help them lose excess fat. Weight loss will undoubtedly have positive impacts on posture and lumbar lordosis straightening treatment.
• Braces: The lumbar correction braces are used to restore the flattened lumbar spine to its original shape. Wearing it for a set period of time would undoubtedly produce the desired results.
• Steroid injections: To treat the lingering pain caused by flatback syndrome, Epidural injections are used. To some extent, epidural cortisone injections would reduce inflammation and pain.
• Surgery: When all the other straightening of lumbar spine treatment fail to bring results, surgery can be considered. A Pedicle Subtraction Osteotomy can be used to reverse straightening of the normal lumbar lordosis. It is a spinal fusion and osteotomy surgery. Surgeons will remove the pedicles that are obstructing the shape of the spine and realign the curvature of the spine with rods and screws. The bones will fuse together during the rehabilitation process. The other surgeries that can be helpful are Polysegmental wedge osteotomy and Posterior vertebral column resection.

Thus, straightening of lumbar lordosis treatment can be beneficial to an extent in resolving the issue.

Are people with loss of lordosis more prone to injuries?

People with serious lumbar straightening or straightened lumbar lordosis already might have multiple spine-related issues making them prone to injuries. When the lumbar curvature is straightened, people will have an inability to maintain body balance, which makes them easy victims to slip and fall accidents.

The preexisting conditions like even mild loss of lumbar lordosis may make people prone to more serious injuries, even in milder incidents like slips and falls. More substantial impacts like motor vehicle accidents can even paralyze them permanently.

When proceeding with lawsuits in case of any accident, the defendants may blame that your injury is related to the pre-existing condition and not related to the accident. Even if you want to prove that your pre-existing condition is exacerbated by the accident, you should unearth the evidence from your medical reords that your straightening of lumbar curve occurred from the accident.

Can I sue for my loss of lordosis?

Of course, yes. The scenario must involve someone else’s negligence in causing your lumbar curve straightening. If you have multiple lumbar vertebral compression fractures due to a car accident or a slip and fall, you can sue the negligent party for causing your straightening of normal lordosis.

Even if the accident aggravated your pre-existing medical condition and resulted in lordotic curvature loss, you may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit.

Medical malpractice is another situation in which you can file a lawsuit. If the spinal surgeon’s negligence in performing spinal decompression or fusion surgeries resulted in the loss of the lumbar curve, you might have the chance to sue the surgeon or the facility.

The only thing you must keep in mind is that you must have evidence to prove his negligence. Then you will be able to obtain a recompense from the medical malpractice lawsuit for your lumbar curve straightening.

If the use of Harrington rod has caused your flatback, you can file a Harrington rod lawsuit.

What will ensure my lumbar lordosis loss claim?

As you can see from the causes of the lumbar lordosis straightening list, it can be caused by a number of factors. As a result, obtaining the compensation you deserve in such a case would be difficult. The defendants may argue that your loss of lordosis is not the result of the accident but rather of your unhealthy lifestyle or a pre-existing spinal deformity.

In such cases, the assistance of an experienced personal injury or medical malpractice attorney would assist you in analyzing your chances of obtaining restitution in your straightening of lordosis in lumbar claim.

As with any other type of litigation, your medical records are crucial to proving your case. The severity of your injuries, the force of the impact, and the complicated and lengthy treatments you have undergone will all play a significant role in convincing the jury of the cause of your flattened lumbar curve. As a result, ensure that your medical records are up to date and error-free.

Every medical record pertaining to your treatment can be useful in proving the severity of your injuries. Reviewing the medical records that are in large volumes would necessitate expertise. When these medical records are outsourced to medical record review companies, they will not leave any stone unturned in their search for the valid records that will support your claim.

LezDo TechMed can help you, and your attorney review your medical records and provide you with a concise medical summary that includes all valid records in chronological order.

Final thoughts

Hope you have got an answer to your query- What is loss of normal lumbar lordosis? People with lumbar lordosis straightening will feel unbalanced as their body equilibrium is not stable. Standing for a prolonged period of time may cause them to fall. Getting treatment early on will protect them from chronic pain and expensive treatment costs. However, they can avoid lumbar spine straightening by maintaining healthy postures and eating a nutritious diet. Make exercises a part of your daily life to avoid lumbar lordosis loss.

Straightening of the normal cervical lordosis is more or less similar to the straightened lumbar spine. Our spine health is in our hands. An ounce of prevention or pounds of cure? The decision is entirely yours!

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