Relief from chronic back pain normalises brain activity
May 18th, 2011 - 3:05 pm ICT by IANSToronto, May 18 (IANS) Freedom from chronic low back pain normalises brain activity, a research has revealed.
Commonly found in adults, low back pain affects brain parts linked with pain processing and its components like depression and anxiety.
A group of researchers from McGill University and its Health Centre posed a fundamental question to a team of patients of low back pain about to undergo treatment: If you can alleviate chronic low back pain, can you reverse these changes in the brain?
MRI scans were conducted on each subject before and six months after their treatments. “When they came back in, we wanted to know whether their pain had lessened and whether their daily lives had improved,” said the study co-author Laura S. Stone from McGill University.
Not only did the team observe recovery in the anatomical function of the brain, but also in its ability to function. The abnormal brain activity observed initially during an attention-demanding cognitive task was found to have normalized after treatment.
- Irritable bowel syndrome causes structural brain alterations in patients - Jul 23, 2010
- Nerve cell memory holds key erasing pain - Feb 14, 2012
- Does psychotherapy induce changes in the brain? - Feb 15, 2011
- Magnetic pulse therapy may help treat depression: Study - May 10, 2012
- Chicks can be 'woken' up inside eggs - May 04, 2012
- Anxiety tends to alter ill effects of depression - Apr 02, 2010
- Study predicts risk of memory loss in healthy, older adults - Jan 20, 2011
- 'Bilingual' neurons may help uncover secrets of brain disease - Mar 19, 2011
- How Zen meditation controls pain - Dec 09, 2010
- Brains of maltreated kids, combatants aware of dangers - Dec 06, 2011
- Seeing brain activity helps people improve their ability to control thoughts - Apr 09, 2011
- Scientists clue into why people suffer poor self-image - May 27, 2011
- Menstrual pain may cause abnormal changes in brain structure - Aug 11, 2010
- Breast cancer survivors who set new goals are healthier - Apr 24, 2012
- New brain imaging technique shows effects of Parkinson's drug - Dec 01, 2010
Tags: adults, anxiety, brain activity, chronic back pain, chronic low back pain, co author, cognitive task, depression, freedom, function of the brain, fundamental question, health centre, low back pain, mcgill university, mri scans, six months, toronto