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Johnson Chiropractic Presents the Influence of the Brain/Spine Connection in Back Pain

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. Johnson Chiropractic keeps this connection in mind as we take care of our Richmond back pain sufferers’ spines and listen to their stories of pain and ways of coping. Richmond chiropractic care at Johnson Chiropractic respects the brain and spine connection and implement gentle, safe chiropractic services including spinal manipulation to ease pain affecting both.

BRAIN CHANGES IN Richmond 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 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 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 Richmond chiropractor’s head spinning a little! What a subject! 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. Certainly, the young developing brain is most malleable, 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 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 knowledge of the brain contributes to the Richmond chiropractic treatment plan!

BRAIN CHANGES WITH CHRONIC PAIN

Just how is the chiropractic treatment plan influenced by such knowledge of the brain? Let’s start by examining the brain with chronic pain. The two brain regions that encode the intensity of pain and contribute to the overall 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 indicated that treating chronic pain can reestablish normal brain functions. (6) Johnson Chiropractic care for Richmond back pain patients all day long. It’s amazing to imagine that treatment might alter more than the pain response alone!

CONTACT Johnson 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, describes in more depth how the cells of the body are continually remodeling and adapting to their always-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may help.

Schedule a non-surgical Richmond chiropractic care appointment with Johnson Chiropractic for your pain, brain, and spine! The connection is there between pain and the brain. Johnson Chiropractic can get in the middle of those two and help you find some Richmond pain relief.

 
Johnson Chiropractic 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."