The research, done by scientists from Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, found a connection between those whose back pain is continuous and microstructural changes in the way the brain translated pain, the news service reports. The research was presented at the Radiological Society of North America's annual meeting, in Chicago.

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But the primary issue hasn't yet been resolved: Is the change in the brain - a more complex and active microstructure - caused by the back pain, or is the back pain caused by the change in the brain?

According to the BBC News report, that question is key in determining how a chronic back patient will be treated.

Co-author Gustav Schelling is quoted as saying "It's difficult to know whether these are pre-existing changes in the brain that predispose an individual to developing chronic pain, whether ongoing pain creates the hyperactivity that actually changes the brain organization, or if it is some mixture of both.

"DTI [diffusion tensor imaging - the method used to find the brain changes] may help explain what's happening for some of these patients, and direct therapeutic attention from the spine to the brain." – (HealthDayNews)

February 2007
 

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