Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. Presents the Influence of the Brain/Spine Connection in Back Pain
The brain and the spine. They are connected. They are connected more closely than any of us appreciate as we go about our daily lives. Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. keeps this connection in mind as we treat our Auburn back pain sufferers’ spines and listen to their stories of pain and ways of coping. Auburn chiropractic care at Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. respects the brain and spine connection and implement gentle, safe chiropractic services including spinal manipulation to reduce pain concerning both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Auburn 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 demonstrated activity in the secondary somatosensory cortex, cerebellum and other brain areas. (1) Motor cortex stimulation provokes a spinal anti-inflammatory response to decrease 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 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 Auburn 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 shared that the brain, even the adult brain, is pliable. Sure, 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 saw a difference. More research should be done, but they did describe that long term experience establishes cortical organization while transient, new and different stimulation can spark 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 contributes to the Auburn 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 examining the brain with chronic pain. The two brain regions that encode the intensity of painful stimuli and contribute 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. After treatment, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is thicker. To the researchers, this implied that treating chronic pain can restore normal brain functions. (6) Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. care for Auburn back pain patients all day long. It is amazing to think that treatment might alter more than the pain response alone!
CONTACT Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C.
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 constantly remodeling and adjusting to their ever-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may intervene positively.
Schedule a non-surgical Auburn chiropractic care appointment with Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. for your pain, brain, and spine! The connection is there between pain and the brain. Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. can get in the center of those two and help you obtain some Auburn pain relief.
