The brain and the spine. They’re connected. They
are connected more deeply than any of us realize
as we go about our daily lives. Vancouver Disc Centers keeps this connection in
mind as we take care of our Vancouver back
pain sufferers’ spines and pay attention to their stories of
pain and ways of coping. Vancouver chiropractic care at Vancouver Disc Centers
respects the brain and spine connection and implement gentle, safe
chiropractic services incorporating spinal manipulation to ease
pain concerning both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Vancouver 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 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 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 address 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 new study on Euclidean distance between
cortical sources and temporal dynamics of plastic changes in the somatosensory
cortex of the brain had even your Vancouver chiropractor’s mind
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 malleable.
Of course, the young brain in
development is most impressionable, but with the proper
input, the older, adult brain can transform. The researchers in
this study took measurements
before and after stimulation and compared their size 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 Vancouver 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 overall
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. After treatment, the
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is thicker. To the researchers, this suggested
that treating chronic pain can restore normal
brain functions. (6) Vancouver Disc Centers treats Vancouver back pain patients all day long. It is amazing to imagine
that treatment might alter more than just the pain response!
CONTACT Vancouver Disc Centers
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 adjusting to
their always-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may intervene
positively.
Schedule a non-surgical Vancouver chiropractic care
appointment with Vancouver Disc Centers for your pain, brain, and spine! The
connection is there between pain and the brain. Vancouver Disc Centers can get in the middle
of those two and help you get some Vancouver pain relief.