The brain and the spine. They’re connected. They’re connected more intimately than any of us realize
as we go about our daily lives. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation keeps this connection in
mind as we treat our Tonawanda back
pain sufferers’ spines and pay attention to their stories of
pain and ways of coping. Tonawanda chiropractic care at Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation
respects the brain and spine connection and use gentle, safe
chiropractic services incorporating spinal manipulation to reduce
pain affecting both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Tonawanda 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 analyzed after stimulating lumbar spinous
processes with manipulation and exhibited activity in the
secondary somatosensory cortex, cerebellum and other parts of the
brain. (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 due to 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 Tonawanda chiropractor’s mind
spinning a little! What a subject! Without having to grasp
all these terms and measurements shared in the study, know that
the study shared that the brain, even the adult brain, is pliable.
Of course, the young developing brain 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 noticed
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 spark
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 knowledge of the brain
informs the Tonawanda 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 add to the whole
experience of chronic pain are the primary somatosensory cortex and posterior
insular cortex. (5) The cortex of the brain was discovered to be
thinner in chronic low back pain patients. Post-treatment, the
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is thicker. To the researchers, this implied
that treating chronic pain can reestablish normal
brain functions. (6) Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation treats Tonawanda back pain patients all day long. It is amazing to think
that treatment might alter more than the pain response
alone!
CONTACT Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation
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, describes in more depth how the cells of the body
are constantly remodeling and adjusting to
their ever-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may intervene
positively.
Schedule a non-surgical Tonawanda chiropractic care
appointment with Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation for your pain, brain, and spine! The
connection is there between pain and the brain. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation can get in the center
of those two and help you get some Tonawanda pain relief.