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. Hollstrom & Associates Inc keeps this connection in
mind as we take care of our Largo back
pain sufferers’ spines and pay attention to their stories of
pain and ways of coping. Largo chiropractic care at Hollstrom & Associates Inc
respects the brain and spine connection and use gentle, safe
chiropractic services incorporating spinal manipulation to ease
pain affecting both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Largo BACK PAIN
Pain changes the brain. A person in pain feels
it. Special tests today can reveal 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 brain areas. (1) Motor cortex stimulation provokes a spinal
anti-inflammatory response to reduce pain. (2) Depression,
anxiety, cognitive deficits often accompany chronic
constriction of the sciatic nerve because of its effect
on the medial prefrontal cortex. (3)
Spinal manipulation may be a way to deal with 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 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 Largo chiropractor’s head
spinning a little! What a subject! Without having to understand
all these terms and measurements discussed in the study, know that
the study presented that the brain, even the adult brain, is impressionable.
Of course, 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 their size 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 induce
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 Largo chiropractic treatment
plan!
BRAIN CHANGES WITH CHRONIC PAIN
Just how is the chiropractic treatment plan influenced by such information of the brain? Let’s 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. After treatment, the
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is thicker. To the researchers, this implied
that treating chronic pain may well reestablish normal
brain functions. (6) Hollstrom & Associates Inc takes care of Largo back pain patients all day long. It’s amazing to think
that treatment might modify more than the pain response
alone!
CONTACT Hollstrom & Associates Inc
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 constantly remodeling and adjusting to
their always-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may help.
Schedule a non-surgical Largo chiropractic care
appointment with Hollstrom & Associates Inc for your pain, brain, and spine! The
connection is there between pain and the brain. Hollstrom & Associates Inc can get in the middle
of those two and help you get some Largo pain relief.