PERFORMANCE, WHY SO ELUSIVE? – PART III

      What are the common causes of a muscle weakness? The most obvious and common example is due to a spinal vertebral bone misalignment, known as a subluxation. A subluxation can cause local inflammation and irritation at the spinal column, and it disrupts the nerve output from the spine. Other causes of muscular weakness are due to improper nerve messages to localized blood and lymphatic flow to the muscles, or even because of poor nutrition to the nerves themselves from an inadequate diet or malabsorption disorder. It has also been found that many of the muscles within the body have a neurologic association with a specific gland, organ or viscera. For example, if the small intestines are functioning improperly, the abdominal muscles won’t work as they should either, (that’s an easy one to figure out; if you don’t eat right, your gut goes ‘belly-up”! Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun). Other examples include the adrenal glands association with the sartorius muscle in the thigh, the lungs association with the deltoid muscle in the shoulder, and the pancreas association with the latissimus dorsi muscle in the mid-back.

      I hope, after reading these last three articles about athletic performance you now have a greater insight as to why your performance level may change for no apparent or obvious reason. Maybe your low back began to ache after a few miles into a race or work-out, because the sartorius muscle in the thigh is in a weakened condition due to emotional stress at your job, which “overworked” your adrenal glands. It gets complicated, doesn’t it? Possibly your shoulder began to hurt because of a deltoid weakness, caused by a lingering lung and chest flu that was better but not yet fully cleared up. Or maybe you find yourself fatiguing much earlier than you would have expected because your leg muscles are out of energy from a mild or non-symptomatic malabsorption syndrome. Knowing that we are a combination of organic, neurologic and musculoskeletal health helps in making correct choices in personal care.

(Dr. Richard Hanson, chiropractor in Jamestown, New York, can be reached at
(716)664-0445. Most major insurances are now being accepted.)