Pure Chiropractic Presents the Influence of the Brain/Spine Connection in Back Pain
The brain and the spine. They are connected. They are connected more deeply than any of us appreciate as we go about our daily lives. Pure Chiropractic keeps this connection top-of-mind as we treat our Concord, NC back pain sufferers’ spines and listen to their stories of pain and ways of coping. Concord, NC chiropractic care at Pure Chiropractic respects the brain and spine connection and use gentle, safe chiropractic services including spinal manipulation to ease pain affecting both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Concord, NC BACK PAIN
Pain changes the brain. A person in pain feels it. Special tests today can reveal it. BOLD (blood oxygen level dependent) responses were analyzed 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 triggers a spinal anti-inflammatory response to reduce pain. (2) Depression, anxiety, cognitive deficits often come with chronic constriction of the sciatic nerve due to its effect on the medial prefrontal cortex. (3) Spinal manipulation may be a means to address the brain changes in chronic pain and its related issues.
SHORT TERM STIMULATION’S EFFECT ON BRAIN
Stimulating the brain even for a short time may influence the pain experience. A recent study on Euclidean distance between cortical sources and temporal dynamics of plastic changes in the somatosensory cortex of the brain had even your Concord, NC chiropractor’s head spinning a little! What a subject! Without having to grasp all these terms and measurements discussed in the study, know that the study presented that the brain, even the adult brain, is impressionable. Certainly, the young brain in development is most impressionable, but with the proper input, the older, adult brain can change. The researchers in this study measured and compared the brain’s cortical size before and after stimulation and compared them on MRI. They noticed a difference. More research should be done, but they did explain that long term experience establishes cortical organization while occasional, new and different stimulation can spark cortical reorganization of the adult brain. Such changes have been noted in musicians, Braille readers, and persons after spinal manipulation and stroke rehab. (4) This knowledge of the brain informs the Concord, NC chiropractic treatment plan!
BRAIN CHANGES WITH CHRONIC PAIN
Just how is the chiropractic treatment plan affected with such knowledge of the brain? Let’s start by examining the brain with chronic pain. The two brain regions that encode the intensity of pain and add to the whole 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 implied that treating chronic pain can reestablish normal brain functions. (6) Pure Chiropractic care for Concord, NC back pain patients all day long. It is amazing to imagine that treatment might alter more than just the pain response!
CONTACT Pure Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST by Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he explains more clearly the brain and spine and pain connection, describes in more depth how the cells of the body are constantly remodeling and adapting to their always-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may intervene positively.
Schedule a non-surgical Concord, NC chiropractic care appointment with Pure Chiropractic for your pain, brain, and spine! The connection is there between pain and the brain. Pure Chiropractic can get in the center of those two and help you get some Concord, NC pain relief.
