Human movement is a complex system and when we look at how this works, we begin to realise that a small imbalance in this complex system can cause pain and discomfort or lack of performance.

This system uses a huge amount of information from sensors in our eyes, ears, skin, muscles, tendons, joints and our reflexes to work properly. It turns out that very little of our movement is under conscious control. After the initial signal from your brain, even apparently simple movements like walking or picking up a cup of tea are reliant on your senses and reflexes.

3 of the most important factors in your ability to move well are:

  •   The Myotactic reflex which is often called the knee jerk reflex and will be familiar to anyone who has sat in a doctor’s office and had their knee tapped with a hammer and noticed how their foot involuntarily flies forward.

  •   The Withdrawal Reflex protects us from standing on sharp objects or touching something hot by causing us to pull away from the damaging sensory input. It is also the reflex that is in action when we are being tickled.

  •   The Law of Reciprocal Inhibition recognises the bodies innate ability to contract one muscle group whilst extending the opposing muscle. The easiest muscles to use as an example are the biceps and triceps, the muscles that move the elbow. Whenever we bend our elbow, the bicep contracts. As the bicep is contracting, messages are sent to the opposing tricep muscle to temporarily reduce its tone. The bicep is said to be facilitated, the tricep inhibited.

There are a number of factors that can impair this system whether it is previous injury, misalignments in your spine, nutritional deficiency or even jewellery.

The good news is that we can assess the reflexive part of your nervous system and in most cases restore its normal function. In a recent case a patient came in for a minor left groin tightness, which she noticed during exercise class and a feeling of instability in her left foot. By assessing her muscle tone we found a weakness in her left foot. The correction we found to restore the foot strength was actually in her upper spine in between her shoulder blades – her foot strength returned immediately and this is a copy of the text I received the next day –

“Amazing! I still felt something in both places after I left you, but it was definitely a bit better. At circuit training tonight, though, it was a HUGE improvement. Just a wee bit of tension left at the top of my leg, but it wasn't inhibiting any moves. Brilliant! Long may it last!”.

In another recent case it turned out to be a belly button piercing causing weakness in the patient’s large back muscles, and an ear piercing that was causing weakness in her neck muscles. Since taking them out she has noticed improved muscle tone in her back, stomach and legs without any additional exercise and her persistent neck pain has gone without the need for manipulation or rehabilitation exercises.

What has improved for both these patients is their nervous system.

The better the nervous system works the more responsive your reflexes are. Responsive reflexes improve strength and resilience reducing the occurrence of injury and illness.

Eoin Roe is a Chiropractor and Afferent Input specialist with Clinics in Skibbereen, Douglas and Kinsale. If you have any questions or would like to make an appointment please call Eoin on 087 9582362