Chronic Pain and Your Brain – PART II
In my last post on chronic pain I talked about the effect that pain has on the central nervous system, i.e., the brain in regard to depression, anxiety and inefficient decision making. The ability to think is decreased and the quality of life is affected.
It is apparent that chronic pain, that is pain that is present for one year or more, actually causes structural changes in the brain. Researchers Apkarian and others* have found that chronic pain actually causes a decrease in brain size. Brain size compared to normal actually decreased in chronic pain patients. People with chronic back pain showed 5-11% less brain volume than people without chronic back pain. This was found to be equal to the amount of brain tissue lost in 10-20 years of ageing.
Put another way, a person who is experiencing chronic pain, in this low back pain study , in one year will lose the equivalent of 10-20 years of brain functioning. Among those faculties affected can be memory loss, understanding information, speed of thinking and appropriate decision making. Normal daily activities are affected, such as remembering where you put things, driving skills, important dates, and how to balance a checkbook.
Physical abilities would also suffer. Strength, balance and endurance would decrease. Joints and muscles fail to function normally which impairs the ability to perform activities of daily living in an independent manner. All of this results in a diminishment of our ability to interact with our family and friends. Since this is usually a gradual process we tend to ignore the creeping pre-pain or minor pain symptoms until it is realized that what we used to do previously, we can no longer do.
As I have said so many times, pain is the symptom that occurs last; something must happen first to create pain. In light of this and other studies, treatment for a condition should not be just for pain, but restoration of normal function if possible. Treatment beyond pain relief is necessary in order to reach a maximum functioning state.
Once this level of recovery is reached, maintenance becomes of utmost importance to prevent the return of functional disability, the loss of that which has been gained. We maintain our teeth, our car, our house, but if we don’t maintain our bodies, where are you going to live? And how well?
If you are currently in a treatment plan, be sure to complete that which is planned. If you are maintaining your spine, please continue to do so, be regular in your adjustments. If Remember, it is not just about maintaining your spine, it is about maintaining your brain also which means maintaining the quality of your life. If you haven’t been adjusted in awhile, it’s time to schedule an adjustment and return to a proactive status on a regular basis.
If you have a family member, a friend or co-worker who is in pain, please send them in or give us their name so we can contact them to discuss their issues and provide the help they need.
Sincerely and with Best Wishes, James Cross, D.C.
Ref: Apkarian, V., 2008, “Chronic Back Pain is Associated with Decreased Prefrontal and Thalamic
Gray Matter Density”, The J. of Neuroscience.
Bailiki, N., 2004,”Beyond Feeling: Chronic Pain Hurts the Brain, Disrupting the Default-Mode
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