Proprioception - Making Your Body Smarter

We usually don't think of our bodies in terms of their being "smart." For example, we walk to the corner store without giving a single thought to the complex mechanics involved in getting there and back. But behind the scenes there's plenty going on and your body's "IQ" has a lot to do with your success in accomplishing everyday tasks.

Proprioception is one of those background physical processes that make up your body's total IQ. Proprioceptors are specialized nerve endings located in your muscles and joints that inform your brain about your body's position in three-dimensional space. You're able to write legibly because proprioceptors are sending instantaneous data about the angles of the small joints of your fingers and wrists as your pen moves across the page. You're able to run on the beach because proprioceptors are continuously sending signals to your brain about the changing shape of the uneven surface of the sand.¹

Without these specialized nerve endings, we'd never be able to hit a baseball, throw a Frisbee, or drive a car. But proprioceptors can be smart or less than that. It all depends on how well-trained they are. One person out for a stroll might trip over a crack in the pavement and suffer a badly sprained ankle. Another person might trip over the same crack, even badly turning over their ankle in the process, and keep on walking without even a trace of a limp.

The difference between injury and non-injury is the level of proprioceptor training, and this level usually is related to whether you're doing regular exercise.² Exercise trains your muscles and joints to adapt to varying kinds of stresses (weight-bearing loads) throughout a variety of positions (the full range of motion of those joints). As a result, trained proprioceptors can withstand a high degree of stress (such as a sudden twisting of an ankle). The untrained ankle, possibly the ankle of a person who hasn't done much walking, running, or bike riding in the last 5 years, will be damaged by an unusual and unexpected stress. The result is an ankle sprain of varying severity and possibly a broken ankle.

Similarly, it is well known that older adults experience more frequent falls than do younger adults. Part of the explanation involves proprioception.³ Many older adults don't engage in regular exercise. Proprioceptive function decreases, changes in level or surface aren't recognized quickly by the person's feet and ankles, and the person falls.

It's easy to see that the effort to maintain your body's IQ is time very well spent. The fastest way to boost this skill set is by doing regular exercise. All kinds of exercise provide benefit, so the best exercises are the ones that have some interest for you personally. Optimally, a person is doing both strength training and cardiovascular exercise. As always, the key to long-term health and wellness is consistency.

 

 Chiropractic Care Helps Your Body Be Smarter

Your body's awareness of where it is in three dimensions is critical to your ability to function effectively in the world. This awareness depends on proprioceptors. These specialized nerve endings are part of your nervous system - your body's master system.

Nerve signals are transmitted from proprioceptors in joints and muscles, along nerve pathways, to spinal nerves. Spinal nerves connect to the spinal cord, and from there signals are transmitted to the brain. But spinal nerves are a potential bottleneck to the free flow of information. These nerves may become irritated or inflamed, blocking accurate information from reaching the brain and accurate instructions from reaching the rest of the body.

Chiropractic care helps keep your body free of nerve interference. By correcting spinal misalignments, chiropractic care helps remove nerve interference and ensures a free flow of information from the brain, to the spinal cord, to all the body's cells, and back again. Optimal health and well-being are the result.

Please visit us at www.atlanticchirofl.com for more information on how chiropractic can help you!

¹Wong JD, et al: Can proprioceptive training improve motor learning? J Neurophysiol 2012 Sep 12 [Epub ahead of print]

²Ferreira ML, et al: Physical activity improves strength, balance and endurance in adults aged 40-65 years: a systematic review. J Physiother 58(3):145-156, 2012

³Howe TE, et al: Exercise for improving balance in older people. Cochrane Database Syst Rev  2011 Nov 9(11):CD004963.

What's Wrong With My Back?

Not all back problems are created equal. One person may have been working on a home improvement project and injured her back while simultaneously bending and twisting. Another person may have developed back pain as a result of a vehicular collision. Another person may be experiencing back pain as a result of osteoporosis. Yet another person may have a serious illness which causes back pain as a related problem.

Back pain is a problem common to many types of injuries and illnesses. How can you tell the difference - in other words, how can you tell when back pain requires you to take action, such as seeing your chiropractor? A reasonable approach is to use a 48-hour guideline. Your body usually has a powerful ability to heal itself. If your back pain hasn't gone away on its own within 48 hours, then seeking professional assistance is a very good plan.

However, some situations require immediate attention. For example, if you've had an accident, seeing your chiropractor right away is probably the right thing to do. In another scenario, if you begin to experience severe pain without an obvious cause, then seeing your chiropractor right away makes a great deal of sense. Like many things in life, having physical pain requires us to use good judgment. The 48-hour rule-of-thumb applies to most situations, but if you've had an accident or are having an unusual problem, see your chiropractor as soon as possible, today if necessary.

When a person has back pain, it's very important to make sure there are no related problems. Most of the time there aren't, but no one wants to be the exception and it's always better to be safe than sorry. Making your own diagnosis is never a good idea. "Oh, that's been bothering me for months," some people will say. "It's just back pain." Of course, such an approach to one's health violates the 48-hour rule. If the problem really wasn't anything much, it would have gone away within a few days. Something else is going on, and usually the longer a physical problem is left untreated the more difficult it is to deal with. The old expression, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is as true today as it was 100 years ago.

Your chiropractor is an expert in back pain. They know that physical pain happens for a reason.^1,2 Their job is to discover that reason, using the tools of history taking, physical examination, biomechanical analysis, and special tests, if necessary, such as x-rays and other imaging methods. Most of the time, the underlying problem is mechanical in nature, involving the spinal joints and associated soft tissues, including the ligaments, muscles, and tendons. Such mechanical problems cause the vast majority of cases of back pain, and are directly addressed by chiropractic care.³ In unusual circumstances, your chiropractor will refer you to another specialist. The important approach in all situations is to seek appropriate care. Your chiropractor's office is the right place to start.

 
Most people now know the importance of exercise in daily life. The benefits of exercise range from improved strength, balance, and agility to deeper, more restful sleep, improved outlook on life, and heightened levels of creativity. Of course, there's also an additional direct benefit for persons with back pain.
Most cases of back pain are biomechanical in nature. In these circumstances, spinal joints have lost some mobility and spinal muscles have become tight. The long-term result is back pain, which may be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on the extent of the biomechanical dysfunction. Chiropractic care is the specific treatment for problems involving the spinal joints and muscles. Exercise is an important addition to chiropractic care. When you perform challenging activities throughout a full range of motion, as you do when you exercise, you're retraining the joints and muscles of your back. By engaging in such activities on a regular basis, you're helping to restore spinal strength and mobility, enhancing the benefits you're receiving from chiropractic care.

Your chiropractor is an expert in rehabilitative exercise and will be glad to design an exercise program that will work for you.

¹Bakker EW, et al: Spinal mechanical load as a risk factor for low back pain: a systematic review of prospective cohort studies. Spine 34(8):E281-E293, 2009

²Shambrook J, et al: Clinical presentation of low back pain and association with risk factors according to findings on magnetic resonance imaging. Pain 157(7):1659-1665, 2011

³Wilder DG, et al: Effect of spinal manipulation on sensorimotor functions in back pain patients: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials 12:161, 2011