BACK PAIN MAY ALTER BRAIN CHEMISTRY

Back pain doesn't just affect patients' backs - it also influences their brains, say scientist. According to a recently published report in the journal Pain, chronic back pain (CBP) alters patients' brain chemistry.

Researchers at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York used magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure the relative concentrations of several brain chemicals (N-acetyl aspartate, creatine, choline, glutamate, glutamine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, inositol, glucose and lactate) in 9 CBP sufferers and 11 pain-free volunteers. Measurements were conducted in six different brain regions. Patients with CBP also underwent evaluations for pain and anxiety.

Findings revealed that, "in chronic back pain, the interrelationship between chemicals within and across brain regions was abnormal, and there was a specific relationship between regional chemicals and perceptual measures of pain and anxiety. These findings provide direct evidence of abnormal brain chemistry in chronic back pain."

Pain ­ December 2000, 15;89:7-18. http://hub.elsevier.com/pii/S0304395900003407

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