Spinal Proprioceptors:

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Low Back Pain is worldwide the most common reason for people taking time off work and , for this reason it has been studied extensively.

 It would seem that it has  a lot to do with - WDR receptors.  (Wide Dynamic Range). The discoverers of these won the Nobel Prize for science in 2020. Fascial researcher Robert Schleip explains them in this great story I have paraphrased below.

 These receptors live in our spine, and they are like a journalist looking for a great story. When they don’t have enough stimulation (enough to write a good story about) they start to make one up. They create a use for themselves by interpreting the situation of inactivity around them as pain. This gives them lots of attention. , the body thinks they are still doing their very important job of sending information about stimulation around the spine, and so they continue with their single focused magnifying glass of looking at all stimulation as pain., they create a massive “nocioceptive Elephant.”

 (nocioceptors are our warning receptors – i.e. they send the signal to our nervous system - there is a threat or / risk here! )

Thus we come to - lack of proprioception = pain

 WDR receptors are new to our understanding. And they explain a lot of this low back pain story.  For people who try all the best advice – move more, get regular massages, eat less inflammatory foods etc – and have no results, this discovery is a real game changer.

 The suggestion now is that, for these people, their WDR receptors have one very big magnifying glass and it is looking at only one thing! - pain. They are interpreting every stimulation they receive as painful, – even if it isn’t.

Changing their response to stimulation is not going to be a quick fix. There are obviously many psychological, neurological and physical layers to address. Learning to re-interpret those signals takes a slow measured approach. Learning to pause movements at the first moment of “threat” – ie t pain and to re assuring the body that this is not threatening, will help re train the WDR receptors to put those magnifying glasses away and start to tell a new story.

Moshe Feldenkrais was really onto this. His movement practices are subtle and a very profound way to help re- train the body in this way. Pilates has the same possibilities however our class structure is very different, and mindfulness on the movers part is paramount.

For further discussion on this please get in touch. Thanks