Creation of normal joint structure and function through Chiropractic adjustments may cause the nerves responsible for sensing normal joint movement, and those nerves responsible for sensing pain to work appropriately, meaning that when the joints are working properly then the pain fibres nerves remain dormant, only when there is joint damage or dysfunction are the pain fibres to operate.
Several scientific authors have reported involvement of neck pain and headaches stemming from the C2-C3 joints of the neck, and neck and shoulder pain from the C5/C6 joints of the neck, after determining these were the source of pain by injecting these joints with anaesthetic.
The same authors have found whiplash injuries damage these joints in the neck, creating such problems as capsular tears, mismatching of joint surfaces and cartilaginous damage between the joint surfaces and in extreme cases fractures as well as damage to the intervertebral disc.
Further investigations of these joints as a source of neck pain in 50 such consecutive presenting patients using double blind, controlled diagnostic blocks. They determined that in this group of post-whiplash patients, these joints in the back of the neck were the most common source of chronic neck pain.