From the Popular Press: What Your Patients are Reading:

Patients with chronic pain experience a constant firing of neurons, which may result in disturbed sleep, depression, anxiety, and difficulty making decisions. Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago used functional MRI to monitor brain activity in patients with chronic low back pain and compared the results with data from a control group. The brain regions of the control group, whose participants had no pain, exhibited a state of equilibrium—when one region became more active, other regions became less active. Conversely, the patients with chronic low back pain had constant activity in the front region of the cortex, which is associated with emotion. The constant activity in this region can wear out neurons and alter the connections among them. Thus, chronic pain can negatively affect the wiring of the brain, causing depression, anxiety, and difficulty making decisions. Researchers say that these findings highlight the importance of finding new methods of effectively treating patients with chronic pain.

Read the full text of this article on healthday.com