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. Most Chiropractic Clinic keeps this connection in
mind as we treat our Murfreesboro back
pain sufferers’ spines and listen to their stories of
pain and ways of coping. Murfreesboro chiropractic care at Most Chiropractic Clinic
respects the brain and spine connection and implement gentle, safe
chiropractic services including spinal manipulation to ease
pain affecting both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Murfreesboro 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 exhibited activity in the
secondary somatosensory cortex, cerebellum and other brain areas. (1) Motor cortex stimulation provokes a spinal
anti-inflammatory response to reduce pain. (2) Depression,
anxiety, cognitive deficits often come with 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 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 Murfreesboro chiropractor’s head
spinning a bit! What a subject! 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.
Sure, the young developing brain is most malleable, 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 trigger
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 Murfreesboro chiropractic treatment
plan!
BRAIN CHANGES WITH CHRONIC PAIN
Just how is the chiropractic treatment plan influenced by 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 painful stimuli 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 may well restore normal
brain functions. (6) Most Chiropractic Clinic treats Murfreesboro back pain patients all day long. It’s amazing to think
that treatment might affect more than just the pain response!
CONTACT Most Chiropractic Clinic
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 ever-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may intervene
positively.
Schedule a non-surgical Murfreesboro chiropractic care
appointment with Most Chiropractic Clinic for your pain, brain, and spine! The
connection is there between pain and the brain. Most Chiropractic Clinic can get in the middle
of those two and help you obtain some Murfreesboro pain relief.