The brain and the spine. They’re connected. They
are connected more deeply than any of us realize
as we go about our daily lives. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc keeps this connection top-of-mind as we take care of our Fort Wayne back
pain sufferers’ spines and pay attention to their stories of
pain and ways of coping. Fort Wayne chiropractic care at Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc
respects the brain and spine connection and use gentle, safe
chiropractic services including spinal manipulation to ease
pain affecting both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Fort Wayne 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 reduce 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 way 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 impact
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 Fort Wayne chiropractor’s mind
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 malleable.
Certainly, 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 needs to be done, but they did describe
that long term experience establishes cortical organization while
occasional, new and different stimulation can induce
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 knowledge of the brain
informs the Fort Wayne 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 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 may well reestablish normal
brain functions. (6) Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc takes care of Fort Wayne back pain patients all day long. It is amazing to imagine
that treatment might alter more than just the pain response!
CONTACT Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc
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 always-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may help.
Schedule a non-surgical Fort Wayne chiropractic care
appointment with Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc for your pain, brain, and spine! The
connection is there between pain and the brain. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc can get in the center
of those two and help you obtain some Fort Wayne pain relief.