Looking at a pot of bone soup, I have wondered how something like that holds a body up.
Viewed purely as material, a bone is just hard tissue suspended between the organs and the muscles. Heavy and rigid — and on its own, not even able to keep its own position. What actually keeps it there is the relationship between bone and muscle, and behind that, the function of the internal organs.
In Summary
- Bone does not stand by itself. It works through interaction with the muscular system and through the qi and blood supplied by the internal organs.
- Muscle acts on bone in four ways: it contracts to produce movement, holds tension to maintain stability, can raise bone density as it develops, and helps prevent fracture.
- In a Korean study of 279 post-menopausal women, greater whole-body muscle mass was associated with higher bone density and lower osteoporosis risk at sites wrapped in thick muscle, such as the thigh.
- Organ function shows its effect on the musculoskeletal system in everyday ways — pain worsens when you are hungry and depleted, and low back pain can follow a bout of diarrhoea.
- In my clinical years, the most striking thing was that pain conditions of every kind improved quickly when the patient slept even slightly more deeply than usual.
- So when you are told a bone is out of place or you have a disc problem, the things that deserve your attention are not the bone but exercise and sleep.
A Bone Cannot Stand Alone
Without qi (氣), a bone is hard and heavy and struggles to hold its own position. It comes into function through its interaction with the muscular system and on the basis of the qi and blood the internal organs send it.
This is not a metaphor. The force that keeps a bone upright is not located inside the bone.
Four Things Muscle Does for Bone
Contraction. When muscle contracts it pulls on bone and produces movement.
Tension. When muscle holds tension it grips the bone and maintains stability. This is the function that keeps posture from collapsing.
Bone density. As muscle develops, the quantity of muscle wrapping the bone increases, and bone density can rise with it.
Fracture prevention. Developed muscle holds bone more firmly and helps prevent fractures.
The third has domestic research behind it. A team at Asan Medical Center analysed the relationship between whole-body muscle mass and bone density in 279 post-menopausal women, and found that as whole-body muscle mass increased, bone density was higher and osteoporosis risk lower at sites surrounded by a large amount of muscle, such as the thigh. It is worth holding two things in mind: this is an observed association, and the pattern differed by site.
If you already have a diagnosis of osteoporosis or are at high fracture risk, the exercise prescription itself should be discussed with your doctor, and heavy resistance training must begin under qualified supervision.
The Internal Organs Are Involved Too
There is a reason Korean Traditional Medicine (KTM), the traditional healing system of Korea also known as Hanbang (한방), examines organ function when treating the musculoskeletal system. The effect is not difficult to observe.
Pain that intensifies when you are hungry and physically depleted; low back pain that follows a spell of frequent diarrhoea — these are ordinary examples. Nothing happened to the bone, and yet the pain changed.
Sleep Changes Pain
During my years in clinical practice, treating sleep disorders left me with one observation above all others. Whatever the pain condition, symptoms improved quickly when the patient managed to sleep even a little more deeply than usual.
It did not seem to matter what kind of pain it was. That improvement did not come from touching the bone or the joint. It came from raising the body’s capacity to repair itself.
So What Should You Actually Do
Most pain-related conditions are not a problem of bone alone. The musculoskeletal system — bone, muscle, ligament — has to be treated together, and KTM adds to that a close look at whether organ function has gone astray.
So when you are told your bones or your posture are out of alignment, or that you have a disc problem, this is what deserves your attention: keeping muscle function, and the function of the body as a whole, in the best state you can — which in practice means exercise and sleep.
Whether or not you receive manual correction, without those two the bone does not stay held.
Spinal symptoms accompanied by sudden weakness, altered sensation, or loss of bladder or bowel control require emergency assessment. Nothing here substitutes for that.
In Summary
A bone is held up by what surrounds it and fed by what supplies it. Treat the pillar alone and the result does not last; look after the muscle that grips it and the sleep that repairs it, and the structure holds. The least glamorous instructions in medicine are still the two that carry the most weight here.
Related reading: Why a Correction Never Holds: Chuna Therapy and the Tissue Around the Bone · Key Factors in Preventing Osteoporosis
This article reflects the teaching and research of Professor Seungho Baek, Professor of Korean Medicine at Dongguk University College of Korean Medicine, specializing in Pathology and Oncology.
