Has your brain shrunk?
Did you know….
Chronic back pain is associated with a decrease in grey matter density. So, what does that mean? Chronic back pain actually accelerates atrophy (shrinkage) of the brain! A research study performed by Northwestern University Medical School published in the Journal of Neuroscience found that those suffering from chronic back pain showed a 5-11% shrinkage in brain matter, which is the equivalent to 10-20 years of normal aging! The brain actually shrinks 1.3 cm3 for every year of chronic back pain experienced. The good news is that some of the grey matter shrinkage was reversible with proper treatment. The greater the atrophy of the brain, the more irreversible and less responsive a patient becomes to therapeutic measures!
The moral of this story…DO NOT wait until you are in chronic pain before acting to improve your health! But for those that do wait because they are not properly educated or informed, there is still hope for improvement.
Who do you know that doesn’t know what you know about chiropractic? Tell them YOUR story, INSPIRE them to be better for the health of it…and of course, so their brain can stop shrinking!