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Spinal Care Clinic 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. Spinal Care Clinic keeps this connection in mind as we treat our Burlington and Hamilton back pain sufferers’ spines and listen to their stories of pain and ways of coping. Burlington and Hamilton chiropractic care at Spinal Care Clinic respects the brain and spine connection and implement gentle, safe chiropractic services including spinal manipulation to ease pain concerning both.

BRAIN CHANGES IN Burlington and Hamilton BACK PAIN

Pain changes the brain. A person in pain feels it. Special tests today can show 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 because of its effect on the medial prefrontal cortex. (3) Spinal manipulation may be a way 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 new study on Euclidean distance between cortical sources and temporal dynamics of plastic changes in the somatosensory cortex of the brain had even your Burlington and Hamilton chiropractor’s head spinning a bit! What a topic! 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 impressionable. Of course, the young brain in development is most impressionable, but with the proper input, the older, adult brain can change. The researchers in this study measured and compared the brain’s cortical size 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 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 informs the Burlington and Hamilton chiropractic treatment plan!

BRAIN CHANGES WITH CHRONIC PAIN

Just how is the chiropractic treatment plan affected with such information of the brain? Let’s 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 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) Spinal Care Clinic treats Burlington and Hamilton back pain patients all day long. It is amazing to think that treatment might modify more than just the pain response!

CONTACT Spinal Care 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 continually remodeling and adjusting to their ever-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may intervene positively.

Schedule a non-surgical Burlington and Hamilton chiropractic care appointment with Spinal Care Clinic for your pain, brain, and spine! The connection is there between pain and the brain. Spinal Care Clinic can get in the center of those two and help you obtain some Burlington and Hamilton pain relief.

 
Spinal Care Clinic looks at the connection between the brain and spine in back pain patients to better help them find pain relief. 
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"This information and website content is not intended to diagnose, guarantee results, or recommend specific treatment or activity. It is designed to educate and inform only. Please consult your physician for a thorough examination leading to a diagnosis and well-planned treatment strategy. See more details on the DISCLAIMER page. Content is reviewed by Dr. James M. Cox I."