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Chiropractic Solutions Presents the Influence of the Brain/Spine Connection in Back Pain

The brain and the spine. They’re connected. They are connected more intimately than any of us appreciate as we go about our daily lives. Chiropractic Solutions keeps this connection top-of-mind as we take care of our San Jose back pain sufferers’ spines and pay attention to their stories of pain and ways of coping. San Jose chiropractic care at Chiropractic Solutions respects the brain and spine connection and implement gentle, safe chiropractic services incorporating spinal manipulation to ease pain affecting both.

BRAIN CHANGES IN San Jose 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 demonstrated activity in the secondary somatosensory cortex, cerebellum and other brain areas. (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 because of its effect on the medial prefrontal cortex. (3) Spinal manipulation may be a means 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 new study on Euclidean distance between cortical sources and temporal dynamics of plastic changes in the somatosensory cortex of the brain had even your San Jose chiropractor’s mind spinning a little! What a subject! Without having to understand all these terms and measurements discussed in the study, know that the study shared 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 their size on MRI. They noticed 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 noted in musicians, Braille readers, and persons after spinal manipulation and stroke rehab. (4) This knowledge of the brain informs the San Jose 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 overall 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 restore normal brain functions. (6) Chiropractic Solutions takes care of San Jose back pain patients all day long. It’s amazing to think that treatment might alter more than just the pain response!

CONTACT Chiropractic Solutions

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, 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 San Jose chiropractic care appointment with Chiropractic Solutions for your pain, brain, and spine! The connection is there between pain and the brain. Chiropractic Solutions can get in the middle of those two and help you obtain some San Jose pain relief.

 
Chiropractic Solutions shares at the connection between the brain and spine in back pain patients to better help them find pain relief. 
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"This information and website content is not intended to diagnose, guarantee results, or recommend specific treatment or activity. It is designed to educate and inform only. Please consult your physician for a thorough examination leading to a diagnosis and well-planned treatment strategy. See more details on the DISCLAIMER page. Content is reviewed by Dr. James M. Cox I."