You may not know this but when you get adjusted it provides better control and movement to your body. There are local effects that occur such as freeing up the joints and local muscles that move you. We looked recently at an article which saw an improvement of the smaller muscles called multifidus that stabilize your spine following an adjustment. However more recent neuroscience suggests that perhaps the biggest changes occur in your brain and the control mechanisms of your body when you get adjusted. (1)
A recent study (2) examined the ability of chronic back pain patients to localize where the practitioner was touching on their torso and thighs with their eyes closed. Patients with a history of low back pain performed much worse than those without low back pain . Body awareness is called “proprioception” and it could be concluded from this study that there is a link between people with poor proprireception and low back pain.
It would be strongly suggested that failure of this body awareness and control system leads to the spectrum of injuries seen in our clinic. Things like disc herniations, muscle and joint strains are all example of this where the body did not control itself well enough and abnormal tissue loading occurred.
Chiropractic treatment to the spine maybe a stimulus enough to improve the control of your spine. This along with exercises targeted to improve the propriorecption of your body can be beneficial in rehabilitating chronic low back pain.
Below is an example of how the human frame is designed to be moved and controlled. How far away has your body gone from being able to do this? What are you doing to change?
1. Haavik, H., & Murphy, B. (2012). The role of spinal manipulation in addressing disordered sensorimotor integration and altered motor control. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 22(5), 768–776. doi:10.1016/j.jelekin.2012.02.012
2. Wand, B. M., Keeves, J., Bourgoin, C., George, P. J., Smith, A. J., O’Connell, N. E., & Moseley, G. L. (2013). Mislocalization of sensory information in people with chronic low back pain: a preliminary investigation.The Clinical journal of pain, 29(8), 737–743. doi:10.1097/AJP.0b013e318274b320