Hey Reader!

I had to share one of my favorite articles of all time that completely blew my mind.

I don't know if you knew this, but stiffness is... perceptual and protective.

Let's talk about it

In this super fascinating study by Stanton et al., 2017, they measured mechanical stiffness of the lumbar spine using a machine that applied a constant N of force, and then asked the person about their perception of stiffness.

There were 2 groups (those with back pain and those without).

What they found was:

• There was NO difference in mechanical stiffness between groups
• The people with back pain had increased levels of perceived stiffness

While that already is incredibly interesting and says a lot about the perception of stiffness... they didn't stop there.

This is the mind-blowing part

Then they added...

A sound.

A really creaky, screechy sound.

Like, imagine an old, rusted seesaw with two elephants on it going up and down.

The sound was added as the machine was applying the PA force to the person's lumbar spine at varying volumes.

AND GUESS WHAT?!

It changed the levels of perceived stiffness IN BOTH GROUPS and in BOTH DIRECTIONS!

Meaning as the volume went up, so did the perceived level of stiffness and as the volume went down...

... so did the level of perceived stiffness.

What does this mean for your clinical practice?

First, this makes me think A LOT about people who tell me they hear bodily noises and it concerns them.

Next, I start wondering...how can I take advantage of this in treatment?

How can I use auditory input to cause a change in perception of stiffness and decrease protective pain responses in manual therapy, to exercises, or with functional activities?

What if I tinker with volume, realistic vs unrealistic sounds, goal related sounds, and more!

I know this might sound beyond crazy to do with a real life human being in the clinic, but hey... the brain is a pretty wild and crazy thing itself.

My challenge to you

🙃 For better or worse, you now have one heck of a silly (and maybe game changing) tool to try and I dare you to try it in the clinic this week 🔥

Play with sound and let me know how it goes (just hit reply!)

Read the article for yourself Read the Perceptual Stiffness Article

Until next time,

Brittany Kim 🔥 the CRPS PT