A team of researchers from the University of South Australia believes perceptions of back stiffness may just be a protective mechanism in the mind.
They found that the perception of stiffness can be influenced by something as harmless as a sound.
Lead researcher Tasha Stanton said what we feel does not actually represent what is going on in the tissues of our body.
"How stiff your back feels does not relate at all to how stiff it actually is when we measure it using a very specialised device," Dr Stanton said.
"We can manipulate the perception of your back merely by adding sounds."
According to Dr Stanton, the research provides a greater understanding of the complexity of how and why we feel certain things.
"With this feeling of stiffness, it's not just being generated based on information that's coming from the back tissues," she said.
The researchers studied 15 people with chronic lower back pain who reported feeling back stiffness.
Each person had pressure applied to their spine synchronised with listening to different sounds, while a control group of 15 people with no back issues were also tested.
The perception of back stiffness changed as certain sounds were played, and was found to decrease as some sounds were lowered in volume.
Back stiffness a 'protective mechanism'
Dr Stanton said senses including hearing and sight could be used to decrease feelings of stiffness.
She said the feelings are a protective mechanism which are useful immediately after a back injury, but become a problem when they do not go away.
"The population that we're looking at is chronic, so that means they've had these sensations for a very long period of time.
"In those chronic conditions many of these responses that were initially adaptive, or helpful, have now become maladaptive."
The findings offer hope for 632 million people, about one-tenth of the global population, who suffer lower back pain and cannot find any relief.
Dr Stanton next wants to try the procedure with people suffering from osteoarthritis or with people who have had amputations.
"Sometimes they continue to feel feelings of stiffness in the amputated joint," she said.
"So this could be a very interesting thing to try with them where perhaps they imagine doing movement of a joint and we pair sound with it."
Dr Stanton said researchers are only just starting to understand the potential of using the brain and the nervous system in the treatment of pain.
"That I think is really exciting because it gives hope to people that have been suffering these things and maybe not responding to traditional treatment," she said.
