Pain Signals Going Wrong Impact Treatment for Effective Chronic Pain Management
The human body is a marvelous adaptive organism. Our brains are designed to learn from our environment and adapt. For the most part this is a good thing. Sometimes however, it leads to some very serious pain management situations. We know that pain is a signal that tells us there is damage or something wrong with our system. However, with some chronic pain conditions the system (including the brain) gets altered. The pain system gets turned on and cannot be turned off. I call this the “hijacked” brain or what is often referred to as Neuroplasticity (also called brain plasticity, cortical plasticity or cortical re-mapping).
Pain research presented by the American Society of Anesthesiologists has emphasized the molecular transduction of painful stimuli, the sensitization processes that occur after injury and long-term phenomena such as pain memory. Neuroplasticity after surgery occurs at the transduction process, in the central nervous system, where central sensitization occurs.
According to research published in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 933:175-184 (2001) titled “Spinal Cord Neuroplasticity following Repeated Opioid Exposure and Its Relation to Pathological Pain;” convincing evidence has accumulated that indicates there are neuroplastic changes within the spinal cord in response to repeated exposure to opioids. Such neuroplastic changes occur at both cellular and intracellular levels. Since so many people living with chronic pain are using opiates these neuroplastic changes need to be better understood and taken into account when treating a problematic chronic pain condition.
To learn more about the role of neuroplasticity in chronic pain management please check out my article Chronic Pain and the Hijacked Brain that you can download for free on our Ariticles page.
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