The brain and the spine. They’re connected. They’re connected more intimately than any of us appreciate
as we go about our daily lives. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka keeps this connection in
mind as we take care of our Sitka back
pain sufferers’ spines and listen to their stories of
pain and ways of coping. Sitka chiropractic care at Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
respects the brain and spine connection and implement gentle, safe
chiropractic services including spinal manipulation to reduce
pain concerning both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Sitka 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 demonstrated activity in the
secondary somatosensory cortex, cerebellum and other brain areas. (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 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 Sitka 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 malleable.
Certainly, the young brain in
development is most malleable, but with the appropriate
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 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 trigger
cortical reorganization of the adult brain. Such changes have been noted
in musicians, Braille readers, and persons after spinal manipulation and stroke
rehab. (4) This understanding of the brain
informs the Sitka 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 looking at the brain with chronic pain. The two brain regions that encode the
intensity of pain 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 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) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka treats Sitka back pain patients all day long. It’s amazing to think
that treatment might affect more than just the pain response!
CONTACT Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
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 Sitka chiropractic care
appointment with Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka for your pain, brain, and spine! The
connection is there between pain and the brain. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka can get in the middle
of those two and help you find some Sitka pain relief.