Young Chiropractic Presents the Influence of the Brain/Spine Connection in Back Pain
The brain and the spine. They are connected. They are connected more intimately than any of us realize as we go about our daily lives. Young Chiropractic keeps this connection top-of-mind as we take care of our Easley back pain sufferers’ spines and pay attention to their stories of pain and ways of coping. Easley chiropractic care at Young Chiropractic respects the brain and spine connection and use gentle, safe chiropractic services including spinal manipulation to reduce pain concerning both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Easley BACK PAIN
Pain changes the brain. A person in pain knows it. Special tests today can reveal it. BOLD (blood oxygen level dependent) responses were examined after stimulating lumbar spinous processes with manipulation and demonstrated activity in the secondary somatosensory cortex, cerebellum and other parts of the brain. (1) Motor cortex stimulation provokes a spinal anti-inflammatory response to reduce pain. (2) Depression, anxiety, cognitive deficits often accompany chronic constriction of the sciatic nerve as a result of its effect on the medial prefrontal cortex. (3) Spinal manipulation may be a means to deal with the brain changes in chronic pain and its associated issues.
SHORT TERM STIMULATION’S EFFECT ON BRAIN
Stimulating the brain even for a short time may impact the pain experience. A new study on Euclidean distance between cortical sources and temporal dynamics of plastic changes in the somatosensory cortex of the brain had even your Easley chiropractor’s head spinning a bit! What a subject! Without having to understand all these terms and measurements discussed in the study, know that the study presented that the brain, even the adult brain, is malleable. Of course, the young brain in development is most impressionable, but with the appropriate input, the older, adult brain can transform. The researchers in this study took measurements before and after stimulation and compared them on MRI. They saw a difference. More research should be done, but they did explain that long term experience establishes cortical organization while transient, new and different stimulation can trigger cortical reorganization of the adult brain. Such changes have been seen in musicians, Braille readers, and persons after spinal manipulation and stroke rehab. (4) This knowledge of the brain informs the Easley chiropractic treatment plan!
BRAIN CHANGES WITH CHRONIC PAIN
Just how is the chiropractic treatment plan affected with such information of the brain? Let us start by examining the brain with chronic pain. The two brain regions that encode the intensity of painful stimuli and contribute to the overall experience of chronic pain are the primary somatosensory cortex and posterior insular cortex. (5) The cortex of the brain was shown to be thinner in chronic low back pain patients. After treatment, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is thicker. To the researchers, this suggested that treating chronic pain can restore normal brain functions. (6) Young Chiropractic takes care of Easley back pain patients all day long. It’s amazing to imagine that treatment might affect more than just the pain response!
CONTACT Young Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST by Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he defines more clearly the brain and spine and pain connection, describes in more depth how the cells of the body are continually remodeling and adjusting to their always-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may intervene positively.
Schedule a non-surgical Easley chiropractic care appointment with Young Chiropractic for your pain, brain, and spine! The connection is there between pain and the brain. Young Chiropractic can get in the center of those two and help you find some Easley pain relief.
