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abnormal lordosis
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abnormal lordosis

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Lordosis is historically defined as an abnormal inward curvature of the lumbar spine. However, the terms lordosis and lordotic are also used to refer to the normal inward curvature of the lumbar and cervical regions of the human spine. Similarly, kyphosis historically refers to abnormal convex curvature of the spine. The normal outward (convex) curvature in the thoracic and sacral regions is also termed kyphosis or kyphotic. The term comes .

Key facts

Medical condition (new).image
Illu vertebral column.svg
Medical condition (new).caption
Diagram showing normal curvature (posterior concavity) of the cervical (neck) and lumbar (lower back) vertebral column (spine)
Medical condition (new).diagnosis
X-ray, MRI, CT Scan

via Wikipedia infobox

Health references

Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine (ICD-10-CM · MedlinePlus). Not medical advice.

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Encyclopedic overview

18 sections
Contents
  • Types
  • Lumbar lordosis
  • Lumbar hyperlordosis
  • Lumbar hypolordosis
  • Signs and symptoms
  • Causes
  • Diagnosis
  • Scanning
  • X-ray
  • MRI and CT
  • Treatment
  • Exercises
  • Braces
  • Tai chi
  • See also
  • Footnotes
  • References
  • External links

Lordosis is historically defined as an abnormal inward curvature of the lumbar spine. However, the terms lordosis and lordotic are also used to refer to the normal inward curvature of the lumbar and cervical regions of the human spine. Similarly, kyphosis historically refers to abnormal convex curvature of the spine. The normal outward (convex) curvature in the thoracic and sacral regions is also termed kyphosis or kyphotic. The term comes .

Lordosis in the human spine makes it easier for humans to bring the bulk of their mass over the pelvis. This allows for a much more efficient walking gait than that of other primates, whose inflexible spines cause them to resort to an inefficient forward-leaning "bent-knee, bent-waist" gait. As such, lordosis in the human spine is considered one of the primary physiological adaptations of the human skeleton that allows for human gait to be as energetically efficient as it is.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “abnormal lordosis” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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