Armour Up: How Your Spine Protects Your Brain
- Broadmoor Chiropractic Massage Naturopathy
- Jan 31
- 4 min read
Inside your body, your spine plays a vital role. It is your personal suit of armour, which is an intricate network of bones, joints, and soft tissues that protects one of your most critical systems: your central nervous system. Unlike traditional armour, your spine is designed to move, and the better it moves, the better you function.
In your central nervous system, your spinal cord carries messages between your brain and your body. Movements, sensations, and even automatic functions like changing your heart rate, balance or posture depend on this incredible connection. When your spine is functioning well, it allows your brain and body to communicate with ease.
Spinal Function and Brain Function
Scientists have discovered a fascinating feedback loop showing that spinal movement directly influences brain function; particularly how the brain integrates information and directs the body’s responses to internal and external environments. The brain is constantly changing through a process called neural plasticity, which is its ability to adapt and reorganize in response to experience and sensory input.
When the spine does not move properly, the small muscles surrounding the spine and skull fail to send accurate proprioceptive signals to the brain. Proprioception is the brain’s sense of where the body is in space. Disrupted or inaccurate input can interfere with how the brain interprets sensory information and how it generates appropriate motor responses.
The process of interpreting sensory input and producing coordinated movement is known as sensorimotor integration. Proper feedback from the body to the brain is essential for this process, allowing the brain to create precise, efficient movements. This system supports everything from catching a ball to maintaining balance during a stumble, as spinal muscles automatically activate to protect, stabilize, and coordinate the body in everyday activities.
How Your Spine Protects You
Your spine is involved in three key roles:
Harmonious movement: When running or performing repetitive movements, your spine moves in sync to disperse forces evenly. It’s so smart that if even just one joint among the 70+ joints in your spine isn’t working, another area will compensate. This can be a great back-up system (no pun intended), but on the flipside, overtime this incredible coping mechanism may lead to weakness, degeneration, further dysfunction and pain.
Protection: When lifting heavy objects, your spine stiffens to protect itself and the surrounding muscles. If your body is working optimally, your core is activated first, then you move your extremities. This process is fast and called feed-forward activation. Research suggests that when this activation is dysfunctional, individuals may be at greater risk for low back pain or future injury. Research also indicates that chiropractic care may improve this activation even in pain-free individuals, supporting its role in maintenance and preventive care.
Automatic response: Your spinal muscles respond instinctively during postural challenges, like slips or trips, helping you maintain balance and avoid injury. They also instinctively react to protect you due to reflexes, like your visual or auditory startle reflexes. For instance, if you sense something in your periphery, like a sound or sight, you will quickly turn your head with your upper spine.
When your spine is not functioning optimally, a situation chiropractors refer to as a subluxation or vertebral subluxation, your brain may struggle to integrate and respond to its environment. This can sometimes lead to pain, clumsiness, weak muscles, or reduced athletic performance. In other cases, it may silently affect your body’s ability to function at its best. Notably, chiropractors are the only healthcare professionals specifically trained to detect and correct subluxations, and evidence suggests this intervention can improve feedforward activation and sensorimotor integration.
Supporting Your Spine, Your Body's Armour
Regular chiropractic care helps ensure your spine is aligned and functioning properly, improving communication between your brain and body. This is not just about relieving discomfort. It is about helping your body move efficiently, respond accurately, and perform at its potential. Keep in mind, your nervous system is the first system to develop when you were a fetus, and little spines have armor as well! Because the spine and nervous system develop so early, many families seek age-appropriate chiropractic care for infants at our office to support spinal mobility and nervous system communication.
You can think of chiropractic care as a tune-up for your body’s suit of armour. By keeping your spine healthy and moving, you are protecting your nervous system and supporting overall wellbeing. If you want to give your spine the care it deserves, visit our services page or book an appointment today. Our team is here to help you move, feel, and function at your best.
Further resources:
Comments