Blog 2: Endurance Therapeutics FAQ
Part 2: How the Body Actually Heals: The Nervous System, Muscles, Joints and Why They Are All Connected
In Part 1 we addressed the most common misconceptions about chiropractic care. What it actually is, why it is not about volume or back cracking, and how my approach at Endurance Therapeutics is different from a traditional model. Part 2 goes deeper into the clinical side. How does the body actually heal? Why does treating the site of pain so often miss the point? And what does the nervous system have to do with any of it?
Why does the pain show up in one place but the problem is somewhere else?
This is one of the most important things I explain to almost every new patient. Pain is information. But it is not always accurate information about where the problem actually is.
The body is a connected system. Every structure is linked to every other structure through the fascial network, the nervous system, and the kinetic chain of joints and muscles that transfer force from the ground up through the body and back down again. When one part of that chain is not doing its job, another part compensates. The compensating structure is the one that eventually fails and produces pain.
This is why I see so many knee injuries that are actually hip problems. So many lower back presentations that are actually glute and thoracic spine problems. So many shoulder issues that are actually scapular and cervical problems. Treating the knee, the back, or the shoulder in isolation produces temporary relief at best because the structure causing it has never been addressed.
My job is to find the actual driver, not just the site of pain. That requires a full movement assessment rather than a five minute symptom focused conversation.
What does the nervous system have to do with muscle and joint pain?
More than most people realize. The nervous system is the control centre for everything the body does including how muscles fire, how joints are stabilized, and how pain is perceived and processed.
When a joint is restricted or a muscle is injured, the nervous system responds by altering the firing patterns of the surrounding muscles. This is called neuromuscular inhibition and it is one of the most clinically significant phenomena I work with every day. The glutes switch off when the hip flexors are dominant. The deep cervical stabilizers inhibit when the upper trapezius overworks. The multifidus stops firing at the appropriate time after a lower back injury even after the pain has resolved.
These altered firing patterns create compensatory movement strategies that feel normal to the athlete because they have been that way for months or years. They are only visible to someone who knows what to look for in a movement assessment.
Chiropractic adjustments and joint mobilization work in part by stimulating the mechanoreceptors in the joint capsule and surrounding tissue, which sends proprioceptive input to the nervous system that can help restore normal firing patterns. This is why after a good treatment session patients often report that they feel lighter, that their movement feels freer, or that a muscle they have been struggling to activate suddenly feels more responsive. The joint did not change structurally in that session. The nervous system did.
Why do some injuries heal quickly and others seem to drag on forever?
Several factors determine how quickly an injury resolves. Tissue type is one of them. Muscles have a good blood supply and heal relatively quickly. Tendons and ligaments have a much more limited blood supply and take significantly longer. Cartilage has almost no blood supply at all which is why cartilage injuries are so challenging.
But beyond tissue type, the factors that most influence recovery speed are almost always within the patient's control:
Whether the underlying driver of the injury has been identified and addressed — or whether treatment has only focused on the symptomatic structure
Whether the patient is doing the specific rehabilitation work between appointments that drives adaptation in the injured tissue
Whether load has been managed appropriately to allow recovery without losing fitness or creating further damage
Whether sleep and overall recovery are adequate to support the tissue repair processes that happen outside the clinic
Whether there are movement or strength deficits that are perpetuating the injury despite treatment
The honest answer to why some injuries drag on is almost always that one or more of these factors is not being addressed. That is not a criticism of the patient. It is usually a failure of the clinical model they have been in to identify and communicate what actually needs to happen for recovery to be complete.
Can chiropractic care help if I am not in pain?
Yes. This is something I feel strongly about. Waiting until something hurts to seek care is the equivalent of servicing your car only after the engine light comes on. By the time pain develops, the underlying movement dysfunction, compensation pattern, or tissue vulnerability has usually been building for weeks or months.
Regular movement assessment and maintenance care catches these patterns before they become injuries. For athletes in heavy training, this is not a luxury. It is one of the highest return investments available for keeping training consistent and performance improving across a full season.
Up Next: What You Do Between Appointments
The nervous system responds to treatment. The joints mobilize. The soft tissue releases. And then the patient goes home and sits at a desk for eight hours. Part 3 of Your Questions Answered covers the part of recovery that happens outside the clinic and why it often matters more than what happens inside it. See you there.
______
Understanding how your body actually works is the first step to training smarter and staying healthier. If you want to know what is actually driving your injury or limitation, reach out to book an assessment with Dr. Keirstyn at Endurance Therapeutics.
📍 Endurance Therapeutics | Oakville, Ontario
📞 905-288-7161
Optimizing The Endurance Athlete’s Mind, Body & Performance.