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. Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn keeps this connection top-of-mind as we take care of our Ashburn back
pain sufferers’ spines and listen to their stories of
pain and ways of coping. Ashburn chiropractic care at Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn
respects the brain and spine connection and implement gentle, safe
chiropractic services incorporating spinal manipulation to ease
pain concerning both.
BRAIN CHANGES IN Ashburn 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 analyzed after stimulating lumbar spinous
processes with manipulation and exhibited activity in the
secondary somatosensory cortex, cerebellum and other parts of the
brain. (1) Motor cortex stimulation triggers a spinal
anti-inflammatory response to decrease pain. (2) Depression,
anxiety, cognitive deficits often accompany chronic
constriction of the sciatic nerve as a result of 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 new study on Euclidean distance between
cortical sources and temporal dynamics of plastic changes in the somatosensory
cortex of the brain had even your Ashburn chiropractor’s mind
spinning a little! What a topic! 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 developing brain is most malleable, but with the proper
input, the older, adult brain can transform. The researchers in
this study measured and compared the brain’s cortical size
before and after stimulation and compared them on MRI. They noticed
a difference. More research needs to be done, but they did explain
that long term experience establishes cortical organization while
occasional, 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
informs the Ashburn 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 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 discovered 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) Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn takes care of Ashburn back pain patients all day long. It is amazing to imagine
that treatment might affect more than the pain response
alone!
CONTACT Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn
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 ever-changing mechanical environment, and how chiropractic may help.
Schedule a non-surgical Ashburn chiropractic care
appointment with Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn for your pain, brain, and spine! The
connection is there between pain and the brain. Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn can get in the middle
of those two and help you get some Ashburn pain relief.