National Geographic - UK (2022-06)

A Body’s
Signals
Arizona chiropractor
John Ball treats world-
class athletes—his
grimacing patient on
the massage table is
American middle-
distance runner Ben
Blankenship—with
powerful hands that
manipulate while
simultaneously picking
up cues about muscle
and bone. “I know
how to use tissue and
tactile feedback from
the person’s body,”
Ball says. “The more
tactile sense, the more
skin receptors you
can stimulate, the
more information
you’re bouncing back
and forth between
the local environment
and the brain.”