The brain and the spine. They’re connected. They
are connected more intimately than any of us appreciate
as we go about our daily lives. Chiropractic Care keeps this connection top-of-mind as we treat our West Palm Beach back
pain sufferers’ spines and listen to their stories of
pain and ways of coping. West Palm Beach chiropractic care at Chiropractic Care
respects the brain and spine connection and implement gentle, safe
chiropractic services including spinal manipulation to ease
pain affecting both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN West Palm Beach 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 analyzed after stimulating lumbar spinous
processes with manipulation and demonstrated activity in the
secondary somatosensory cortex, cerebellum and other brain areas. (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 way 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 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 West Palm Beach chiropractor’s mind
spinning a little! What a topic! Without having to understand
all these terms and measurements shared in the study, know that
the study presented that the brain, even the adult brain, is malleable.
Certainly, the young brain in
development is most malleable, but with the appropriate
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 saw
a difference. More research needs to 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 knowledge of the brain
informs the West Palm Beach chiropractic treatment
plan!
BRAIN CHANGES WITH CHRONIC PAIN
Just how is the chiropractic treatment plan influenced by such information 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 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 may well restore normal
brain functions. (6) Chiropractic Care care for West Palm Beach back pain patients all day long. It is amazing to think
that treatment might affect more than just the pain response!
CONTACT Chiropractic Care
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, illustrates in more depth how the cells of the body
are continually remodeling and adapting to
their always-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may help.
Schedule a non-surgical West Palm Beach chiropractic care
appointment with Chiropractic Care for your pain, brain, and spine! The
connection is there between pain and the brain. Chiropractic Care can get in the center
of those two and help you find some West Palm Beach pain relief.