I am calling the combination of the bones, muscles, fascia and nerves the hard body. Not because all of us actually have well exercised muscles, but because we are supposed to. The beetles have a hard exoskeleton. We are supposed to have a hard endoskeleton. And the joint complex is the bone, muscle, connective tissue, and nerve. I think everyone knows what bone and muscles are. Connective tissue is like ligaments (hooking bones or organs together), tendons (hooking muscles to bones), and fascia (a web-like saran wrap-type connective tissue pervading our body).

In our culture we have a conceptual bias toward the musculoskeletal system when considering pain. We are used to thinking about muscles and bones and attribute pains to them. However, for me, these tissues are generally not the cause of pain unless there is an injury (acute, chronic, or repetitive stress) or pathology. Also, unless there is pathology (like a fracture or cancer) a part of a bone that is not a joint is not likely the actual cause of pain, although pain can be felt there.

In my experience, the musculoskeletal system is very responsive to mechanical input. If the joint or muscle is the actual problem you should not need dozens of therapeutic sessions to resolve it. This is in part because every chiropractic adjustment or massage bombards the brain with neurosensory information that the brain then should integrate and then begin sending corrective signals to the body for function.

Musculoskeletal pain should be responsive to heat or cold, rest or activity. Nerve pain often is experienced as burning, hot, or raw. As it progresses there may be alterations in sensation and a loss of sensation. Nerve pain is often related to positioning. When tension is put on a nerve it feels worse, and when it is taken off, it feels better. That is why sciatica or pudendal neuralgia is worse with sitting. However, knowing that a pain involves a nerve does not tell you what is encroaching on the nerve and causing the irritation.

Because of the types of patients I see, I most often use the hard body as a way of mobilizing the fluid body. Because of the proximity of the fluid body to the hard body, every time a joint is mobilized or fascia is released the fluid body will be stimulated to move. I find this to be particularly true in the thoracic spine referent to the thoracic duct, and to the transverse planes.

I always try to set up the body for an adjustment that is as precise as possible, as fast as possible.