“I think I have a trapped nerve,” they might say. Perhaps it is, “I think something is out, my back just went!” They will often say, “I didn’t do anything. I just went to sleep and when I woke up I was like this. I think I have pulled a muscle.”
This type of self-diagnosis is useful in that it can help us understand the area of symptoms, but sensation from deep in the spine, pelvis and neck is much more functionally based. That is to say you often feel general areas or types of pain in which nerve irritation feels different from inflammation, giving the impression that different structures are involved.
The most important aspect of all though is that the different parts of the body do function in isolation outside of the text book.
Bones have cartilage caps and are connected together at the joints, which are held together by ligaments. The joints are further supported by muscles which serve as stabilisers of the joints and function as the motors that power movement. Ligaments connect the muscles to the bones and all of these structures need to be supplied with nutrients through blood supply; they are all drained by the lymphatic system and are controlled and coordinated by the nervous system.
A myth exists that chiropractors do not deal with muscles. In fact all of these structures work together and cannot be isolated.
Function is king. We need to restore function to the whole ‘Chain of Movement’ so that muscles fire at the correct time and allow beautiful, controlled movement.
“What about when I get muscles spasm?” someone might ask. This is a great question but what we need to know is why the muscle is going into spasm. Muscles are amongst the most reliable structures in the body and without a trigger they will function very well.
The most common reason for muscles to spasm is when they become depleted of essential chemicals such as sodium, potassium or calcium. This classic cramping is usually associated with overactivity, nerve fatigue, nerve interruption, ongoing stress, poor diet, illness and fatigue.
There are other very important factors though. If the structure of the spine has altered as a result of injury, loss of tone, joints locking or damage to cartilage then the muscles will show signs of distress and symptoms can occur.
In chiropractic care we often find many areas where there is irritation to nerves and where the amazing feedback mechanism between the brain and the body ceases to function beautifully.
In these situations the muscles, the prime movers of the body, function poorly, often applying their pressure in an uncoordinated, sloppy way which misses the fine motor firing of someone like a professional athlete or skilled trades professional.
Every movement we make is a complex process of nerves telling the motor system where everything is and what the position of your body is. The motor system (using years of experience) calculates which muscles need to fire in what order in exact detail. It sends this information back via the nerves to the muscles, which fire at the right time, bringing about coordinated movement. When this system goes wrong the result is injury.
Chiropractors will find these errors, correct them and get the muscles firing correctly again.