The brain and the spine. They’re connected. They
are connected more intimately than any of us realize
as we go about our daily lives. Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center keeps this connection top-of-mind as we take care of our Pensacola back
pain sufferers’ spines and listen to their stories of
pain and ways of coping. Pensacola chiropractic care at Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center
respects the brain and spine connection and use gentle, safe
chiropractic services incorporating spinal manipulation to reduce
pain affecting both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Pensacola BACK PAIN
Pain changes the brain. A person in pain knows
it. Special tests today can show it. BOLD (blood oxygen level
dependent) responses were analyzed after stimulating lumbar spinous
processes with manipulation and exhibited activity in the
secondary somatosensory cortex, cerebellum and other brain areas. (1) Motor cortex stimulation provokes a spinal
anti-inflammatory response to decrease 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 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 Pensacola chiropractor’s head
spinning a little! What a topic! 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 malleable.
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 them on MRI. They saw
a difference. More research should be done, but they did describe
that long term experience establishes cortical organization while
occasional, new and different stimulation can induce
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 understanding of the brain
informs the Pensacola 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 looking at the brain with chronic pain. The two brain regions that encode the
intensity of pain 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 implied
that treating chronic pain may well restore normal
brain functions. (6) Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center takes care of Pensacola back pain patients all day long. It’s amazing to think
that treatment might affect more than just the pain response!
CONTACT Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center
Listen to this PODCAST
by Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he
explains more plainly the brain and spine and pain
connection, illustrates 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 Pensacola chiropractic care
appointment with Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center for your pain, brain, and spine! The
connection is there between pain and the brain. Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center can get in the center
of those two and help you get some Pensacola pain relief.