Word: braine
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...have it. Nasty though it is, pain plays a valuable role in our overall health. Doctors liken it to an alarm system for the body. When skin, cartilage, muscle or other tissue is injured, peripheral nerves in the area send a shrieking signal to the spinal cord and brain. The immediate result, usually processed in the spinal cord: you pull your hand away from the stove, you shift your weight off the broken bone, you sit down. All pain signals ultimately land in the brain, where they trigger thought ("That was dumb!"), emotions (tears, sobs), memories and a complex array...
With chronic pain, however, the alarm continues to shriek uselessly long after the physical danger has passed. Somewhere along the line--maybe near the initial injury, maybe in the spinal cord or brain--the alarm system has broken down. What researchers have only recently come to understand is that prolonged exposure to this screaming siren actually does its own damage. "Pain causes a fundamental rewiring of the nervous system," says Dr. Sean Mackey, director of research at Stanford University's Pain Management Center. "Each time we feel pain, there are changes that occur that tend to amplify our experience...
...really believe they have a physical problem," says Dr. Scott Fishman, an anesthesiologist, internist and psychiatrist who is chief of pain medicine at U.C. Davis. But the mind is always actively involved in pain, especially in chronic cases. "We know that when you image the brain, the areas that light up when you experience pain include parts of the brain involved in emotions," says Fishman. That is why learning to relieve fear, anxiety and depression related to pain actually helps bring relief, probably by activating the body's own pain-killing chemicals...
Imaging techniques, which build on biofeedback principles, are another psychological option used at pain centers. At Stanford, Mackey has taught patients to literally watch "their brain on pain," using functional magnetic resonance imaging. By relaxing, they can watch lighted areas change color as pain fades. "It's tremendously empowering," he says, "all without medication...
Uncle Nino’s heart is in the right place, but those around him have difficulty seeing this because his behavior suggests that his brain is not. This description of the title character in Robert Shallcross’ new movie, Uncle Nino, actually captures a lot of what is wrong with this well-intentioned picture: it has heart to spare, but it frustrates because it lacks brains...