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  • Date :
  • 5/22/2011

Treating back pain cuts brain changes

back pain

Treating chronic low back pain can reverse pain-related thinning of the brain and its related cognitive impairments, a Canadian study says.

Patients whose pain was successfully treated either through spinal injections or surgery regained cortical thickness and had normal brain activity during the cognitive task, according to the report published in The Journal of Neuroscience.

A previous study has showed cognitive problems and reduced gray matter in brain areas responsible for pain processing and the emotional aspects of pain, such as anxiety and depression, in people with chronic pain.

"If you can make the pain go away with effective treatment, you can reverse these abnormal changes in the brain," said lead researcher Laura S. Stone.

McGill University researchers are planning to carry a deeper investigation through a long term study about the effects of chronic pain treatment on brain structure and activity.

Source: presstv.ir

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