Pain signals travel along the same nerve pathways as movement and proprioception, which is your body’s sense of its position in space. Under normal circumstances, the brain prioritizes the abundance of movement and proprioceptive input it receives, keeping pain signals in the background. However, when an injury or instability occurs, the body may stiffen joints to protect the area, significantly reducing movement input. This shift forces the brain to focus more on pain signals, as they become the dominant information source.

A chiropractic adjustment applies a targeted force to the restricted joint. This restores proper motion, floods the brain with new movement information, and helps ease pain by rebalancing the sensory input.