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.