Every bone, articulation in the body can move in different directions and can become blocked into one of those positions. In other words, a joint dysfunction is simply a bone which is not moving the way it should.
The body is made to move as one. Every part of it, from the skin to the bones, past the tendons, fascia and ligaments, is made to move as a unit. If you move your little toe, it creates movement all the way to the top of your head!
So what happens when one or more parts can’t move properly? The rest begin to compensate for that lack of movement.
When a joint in your spine gets stuck, the joints above, below and the surrounding muscles start to function in a suboptimal way. Sometimes that means they overwork, other times that they work less. Over time, this leads to areas of tension, stiffness and pain, or muscles that are underworking and atrophied.
Relaxing the stiff muscles or strengthening the ones that can’t work properly can help and is extremely important. However, as long as the joints do not move as they should, the problem will likely continue to recur.