The effects of altered spinal afferentation on central processing of tonic pain - a pilot study using standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA)

The analysis of the data showed that the pain scores decreased by 9% after the control intervention while the unpleasantness scores decreased by 7% after both the control and chiropractic interventions. sLORETA showed decreased brain activity during tonic pain after the sham intervention, whereas no change in EEG activity was seen after the chiropractic spinal adjustment session. What this means is that the participants showed pain habituation following the sham intervention, which is expected and means they’re getting used to the pain. However, after being adjusted by the chiropractor, no habituation occurred. We think this may mean that chiropractic care may play a role in avoiding maladaptive neural plastic changes in the brain.