Intervertebral Disc – Stress Shielded by Facets – Dynamic Education

The intervertebral disc annulus can be shielded by the facets. This is important for the patient to understand to help motivate exercise strategies to relieve their back pain.

Researchers have seen in studies that bending the spine backwards (extension) helps resist compression of the spine discs ¹ especially when the disc has already lost some height. ^{2 3} When crafting exercises, and if the facets are not considered a pain generator, bending backwards, especially in the unloaded position, can be an effective strategy to help heal discogenic pain.

Several mechanisms have been proposed on why extension-based exercises aid in the reduction of back pain. One likely path is the direction the nucleus moves as the spine is bent backwards. It has been shown in several studies that the nucleus moves away from the posterior annulus in spinal extension ^{4 5 6 7 8 9}

Dynamic Disc Designs Corp. is the only spine modeling company that demonstrates these findings in a dynamic spine education platform. The Professional and Academic LxH models allows clear visualization of the nucleus as the model moves through 6 degrees of freedom. Patient education that motivates and drives compliance through knowledge to improve clinic outcomes for spine.