The brain and the spine. They’re connected. They’re connected more closely than any of us appreciate
as we go about our daily lives. Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre keeps this connection in
mind as we treat our Toronto back
pain sufferers’ spines and pay attention to their stories of
pain and ways of coping. Toronto chiropractic care at Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre
respects the brain and spine connection and use gentle, safe
chiropractic services including spinal manipulation to reduce
pain concerning both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Toronto 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 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 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 related 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 Toronto chiropractor’s mind
spinning a bit! 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.
Sure, the young developing brain is most malleable, but with the proper
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 explain
that long term experience establishes cortical organization while
transient, 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
contributes to the Toronto chiropractic treatment
plan!
BRAIN CHANGES WITH CHRONIC PAIN
Just how is the chiropractic treatment plan affected
with such information of the brain? Let us start
by looking at 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 indicated
that treating chronic pain can restore normal
brain functions. (6) Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre care for Toronto back pain patients all day long. It is amazing to think
that treatment might modify more than the pain response
alone!
CONTACT Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre
Listen to this PODCAST
by Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he
defines more clearly the brain and spine and pain
connection, describes in more depth how the cells of the body
are continually remodeling and adjusting to
their ever-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may help.
Schedule a non-surgical Toronto chiropractic care
appointment with Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre for your pain, brain, and spine! The
connection is there between pain and the brain. Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre can get in the center
of those two and help you get some Toronto pain relief.