Executive Chiropractic of Iowa Presents the Influence of the Brain/Spine Connection in Back Pain
The brain and the spine. They are connected. They’re connected more deeply than any of us realize as we go about our daily lives. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa keeps this connection top-of-mind as we treat our West Des Moines back pain sufferers’ spines and pay attention to their stories of pain and ways of coping. West Des Moines chiropractic care at Executive Chiropractic of Iowa respects the brain and spine connection and implement gentle, safe chiropractic services incorporating spinal manipulation to reduce pain concerning both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN West Des Moines 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 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 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 means to deal with 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 West Des Moines chiropractor’s head spinning a bit! What a subject! Without having to understand all these terms and measurements shared in the study, know that the study shared that the brain, even the adult brain, is pliable. 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 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 transient, 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 contributes to the West Des Moines 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 add 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 implied that treating chronic pain may well reestablish normal brain functions. (6) Executive Chiropractic of Iowa care for West Des Moines back pain patients all day long. It’s amazing to think that treatment might modify more than just the pain response!
CONTACT Executive Chiropractic of Iowa
Listen to this PODCAST by Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he explains more plainly the brain and spine and pain connection, illustrates in more depth how the cells of the body are continually remodeling and adapting to their always-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may intervene positively.
Schedule a non-surgical West Des Moines chiropractic care appointment with Executive Chiropractic of Iowa for your pain, brain, and spine! The connection is there between pain and the brain. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa can get in the center of those two and help you get some West Des Moines pain relief.
