The brain and the spine. They are connected. They’re connected more closely than any of us appreciate
as we go about our daily lives. Wilson Family Chiropractic keeps this connection in
mind as we take care of our Millville back
pain sufferers’ spines and pay attention to their stories of
pain and ways of coping. Millville chiropractic care at Wilson Family Chiropractic
respects the brain and spine connection and use gentle, safe
chiropractic services including spinal manipulation to reduce
pain concerning both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Millville BACK PAIN
Pain changes the brain. A person in pain knows
it. Special tests today can show 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 parts of the
brain. (1) Motor cortex stimulation provokes a spinal
anti-inflammatory response to decrease pain. (2) Depression,
anxiety, cognitive deficits often accompany chronic
constriction of the sciatic nerve because 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 associated 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 Millville chiropractor’s head
spinning a bit! What a topic! Without having to grasp
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 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 noticed
a difference. More research needs to be done, but they did describe
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 understanding of the brain
contributes to the Millville 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 examining 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 shown 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 may well reestablish normal
brain functions. (6) Wilson Family Chiropractic treats Millville back pain patients all day long. It’s amazing to imagine
that treatment might modify more than just the pain response!
CONTACT Wilson Family Chiropractic
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 ever-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may intervene
positively.
Schedule a non-surgical Millville chiropractic care
appointment with Wilson Family Chiropractic for your pain, brain, and spine! The
connection is there between pain and the brain. Wilson Family Chiropractic can get in the middle
of those two and help you find some Millville pain relief.