The brain and the spine. They are connected. They
are connected more deeply than any of us realize
as we go about our daily lives. Palmer Chiropractic Center keeps this connection top-of-mind as we take care of our Lynchburg back
pain sufferers’ spines and listen to their stories of
pain and ways of coping. Lynchburg chiropractic care at Palmer Chiropractic Center
respects the brain and spine connection and implement gentle, safe
chiropractic services including spinal manipulation to reduce
pain affecting both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Lynchburg 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 brain areas. (1) Motor cortex stimulation triggers 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 associated 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 Lynchburg chiropractor’s head
spinning a bit! What a topic! 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.
Certainly, the young brain in
development is most impressionable, but with the appropriate
input, the older, adult brain can change. 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
occasional, new and different stimulation can induce
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 understanding of the brain
contributes to the Lynchburg chiropractic treatment
plan!
BRAIN CHANGES WITH CHRONIC PAIN
Just how is the chiropractic treatment plan affected
with such knowledge of the brain? Let us 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 suggested
that treating chronic pain can restore normal
brain functions. (6) Palmer Chiropractic Center treats Lynchburg back pain patients all day long. It is amazing to think
that treatment might affect more than the pain response
alone!
CONTACT Palmer Chiropractic Center
Listen to this PODCAST
by Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he
defines 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 help.
Schedule a non-surgical Lynchburg chiropractic care
appointment with Palmer Chiropractic Center for your pain, brain, and spine! The
connection is there between pain and the brain. Palmer Chiropractic Center can get in the center
of those two and help you get some Lynchburg pain relief.