The brain and the spine. They’re connected. They’re connected more deeply than any of us appreciate
as we go about our daily lives. Back And Neck Care Center keeps this connection top-of-mind as we take care of our Severna Park back
pain sufferers’ spines and listen to their stories of
pain and ways of coping. Severna Park chiropractic care at Back And Neck Care Center
respects the brain and spine connection and implement gentle, safe
chiropractic services including spinal manipulation to ease
pain concerning both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Severna Park 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 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 triggers 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 way 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 impact
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 Severna Park chiropractor’s mind
spinning a little! What a subject! Without having to understand
all these terms and measurements discussed in the study, know that
the study shared that the brain, even the adult brain, is impressionable.
Sure, the young brain in
development is most impressionable, but with the proper
input, the older, adult brain can transform. The researchers in
this study measured and compared the brain’s cortical size
before and after stimulation and compared their size on MRI. They noticed
a difference. More research needs to be done, but they did describe
that long term experience establishes cortical organization while
transient, new and different stimulation can induce
cortical reorganization of the adult brain. Such changes have been discovered
in musicians, Braille readers, and persons after spinal manipulation and stroke
rehab. (4) This understanding of the brain
informs the Severna Park chiropractic treatment
plan!
BRAIN CHANGES WITH CHRONIC PAIN
Just how is the chiropractic treatment plan influenced by such knowledge of the brain? Let’s 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. Post-treatment, the
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is thicker. To the researchers, this suggested
that treating chronic pain can reestablish normal
brain functions. (6) Back And Neck Care Center care for Severna Park back pain patients all day long. It’s amazing to imagine
that treatment might affect more than just the pain response!
CONTACT Back And Neck Care Center
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, illustrates in more depth how the cells of the body
are continually remodeling and adapting to
their ever-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may intervene
positively.
Schedule a non-surgical Severna Park chiropractic care
appointment with Back And Neck Care Center for your pain, brain, and spine! The
connection is there between pain and the brain. Back And Neck Care Center can get in the center
of those two and help you obtain some Severna Park pain relief.