How Spinal Alignment May Influence Internal Awareness

What Is Interoception?

Interoception is basically your brain’s way of sensing what’s going on inside your body. 

Think about it like this: it’s how you know when you’re hungry, or when your heart is racing due to anxiety.

 It’s the internal feedback system that helps you recognise bodily sensations and emotions. Interoception involves a complex network of signals from various organs, tissues, and systems in your body that communicate with your brain.

This sense allows you to perceive physical states such as thirst, fullness, pain, temperature, and even emotional states like stress or excitement. For example, when your stomach growls, that’s your interoceptive system alerting you that it’s time to eat.

Similarly, if you feel a tightness in your chest, that could be a sign of anxiety or fear, prompting you to take a moment to breathe and assess your feelings.

Interoception plays a crucial role in maintaining homeostasis. Homeostasis is your body’s natural ability to keep things balanced — like your temperature, heart rate, and even fluid levels. When your body’s out of alignment or under stress, it has to work harder to maintain that balance. It helps you respond appropriately to your needs, whether that means reaching for a glass of water when you're dehydrated or finding a quiet space to calm down when stress levels rise.

Moreover, interoception is closely linked to our emotional well-being. Research suggests that individuals with a heightened awareness of their internal bodily signals tend to have better emotional regulation and may experience lower levels of anxiety and depression.

For instance, a study published in Psychiatry Investigation examined the associations among emotion regulation strategies, interoceptive awareness, and psychological distress measures, including depression and anxiety. The findings indicated that higher interoceptive awareness was associated with better emotion regulation and lower psychological distress. (1)

Another study in Frontiers in Psychology presented a framework based on psychological and neurobiological research, highlighting how interoceptive awareness facilitates emotion regulation and contributes to health and well-being. (2​)

Conversely, difficulties in interoceptive awareness can contribute to various mental health issues, including anxiety disorders and eating disorders, where individuals may struggle to recognise hunger cues or emotional states.

In recent years, there has been growing interest in how enhancing interoceptive awareness through practices like mindfulness and meditation can improve mental health and emotional resilience. By tuning into the signals our bodies send us, we can foster a deeper connection to ourselves, leading to more informed decisions about our health and well-being. 

In summary, interoception is a vital, yet often overlooked, sense that plays a fundamental role in how we understand our bodies and emotions, helping us navigate the complexities of our internal and external worlds. 

How Spinal Alignment And Nervous System Regulation May Influence Interoceptive Awareness 

Now, here’s where it gets interesting – your spine plays a huge role in this awareness!

When your spine alignment is off, it can mess with your nervous system regulation, which in turn can influence your interoceptive awareness. If you’ve got a kink in your cervical spine or a misalignment in your lumbar spine, it can affect how your brain perceives these internal signals.

Let’s break it down a bit more.

Our spinal column is a complex structure made up of various regions – the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar regions, each having their own specific vertebra and intervertebral discs.

If your spine posture isn’t on point, it can lead to all sorts of issues, including neck pain or even cervical myelopathy. Cervical myelopathy happens when something, like a disc or bone spur, puts pressure on your spinal cord in the neck. This can cause problems like clumsiness in your hands, trouble walking, balance issues, or even numbness and tingling. This misalignment can create compression on the spinal cord and surrounding nerve roots, which can further disrupt the flow of information between your body and brain. 

Think about it – if your body’s signals are all jumbled up, it makes sense that you’d feel disconnected from your internal state, right?

And here’s something to consider: this disconnect can be linked to conditions like anxiety, IBS, panic disorders, and even emotional dysregulation. When the alignment of the spine is corrected, it can lead to improved neurological function and flow. This means your body can communicate better with your brain, making you feel more grounded and connected to yourself.

Imagine standing up straighter with an upright posture! You’re not just looking good; you’re also helping your body and mind sync up. Improving posture can enhance your range of motion and overall mobility, which is a win-win!

Why improving nervous system flow might help patients feel more connected to their body

So, let’s talk about something super interesting: improving the flow of our nervous system could really help people feel more in tune with their bodies.

When we think about the human spine, it's not just a bunch of vertebral bodies stacked on top of each other; it’s a whole biomechanical masterpiece.

If you’ve ever been in a slouchy kyphotic posture (that hunched or rounded look in the upper back that comes from slouching or spending too much time bent over devices) or had that annoying forward head posture, you know how it can throw off your spinal alignment. This misalignment can lead to all sorts of issues, from tightness in the thoracic spine to discomfort in the lumbosacral spine (the area where your lower back meets your tailbone). When the cervical spine isn’t aligned properly, it can mess with the cervical spinal cord and the cord and nerve roots, making it hard to feel connected to your body. A correction in cervical lordosis (the natural curve in your neck) can really make a difference!

Now, let’s dive deeper into how this all ties together. Think about the sagittal plane of your body. The sagittal plane is just the side view of your body — it’s where you see movements like bending forward, walking, or arching your back — this is where posture may play a significant role. When we maintain neutral posture, it helps protect our spinal canal and the internal organs nestled against it. Improving spine alignment can enhance our global alignment, making everything work more harmoniously. It’s all about how the upper cervical and lower cervical regions interact with the rest of the spinal segments. A well-aligned lumbar lordosis (that slight inward curve in your lower back) can lead to better clinical outcomes and improved outcome measures for patients with cervical spinal issues. A systematic review could show that when patients focus on their spinal posture, they often report feeling a stronger connection to their bodies.

So, what’s the takeaway? The correlation between good biomechanics and feeling connected is real. By focusing on both anterior and posterior alignment, we can create a healthier spine that not only looks good but also feels good.

We’re Here To Help!

Chiropractic care helps by supporting the nervous system, which plays a key role in keeping everything regulated which is the body’s ability to regulate its internal environment.

As your local chiropractor, we’re here to help you understand how your body works, especially the spine and pelvis. You might not realize it, but the way you sit or stand can totally mess with your spine alignment and its impact on your overall health. We’re talking about everything from the curvature of the spine to cervical spine alignment. If your posture is off, it can lead to abnormal stress on your facet joints and even impact your neural pathways, which protect your spinal cord and nerve roots. It’s all about finding that sweet spot in sagittal alignment to keep things functioning smoothly.

So, if you're dealing with any spinal cord injuries or just want to improve your posture and spine health, we’ve got your back—literally!

As your local chiropractor for Camira and surrounding areas, consider booking an appointment with us. Book online here or give us a call on 07 3381 0440.

References

1 Lee J, Kim J, Lee J, et al. The Relationship Between Interoceptive Awareness, Emotion Regulation Strategies, and Psychological Distress. Psychiatry Investig. 2024;21(2):123-130. doi:10.30773/pi.2023.0221

2 Price CJ, Hooven C. Interoceptive awareness skills for emotion regulation: theory and approach of mindful awareness in body-oriented therapy (MABT). Front Psychol. 2018;9:798. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00798