Joint blocking and disturbance of joint mobility during muscle relaxation

There are different theories about the substrate of joint blocking, but none of them can explain entirely the clinical symptoms of joint blocking or of deblocking therapies. A total of 50 patients with blocking of the cervical spine and 8 patients with blocking of the iliosacral joint were examined during general anaesthesia and muscle relaxation. During relaxation, blocking of the cervical spine disappeared in 8 patients and returned in 6 of these cases after cessation of anesthesia. Blocking of the iliosacral joint was not influenced by relaxation. We conclude that different mechanisms can be responsible for joint blocking. While most cases are caused by the lesions within the joint itself, a significant number is due to muscle dysfunction.