Why chronic pain is all in your head: Early brain changes predict which patients develop chronic pain

Why do some people with similar injuries end up with chronic pain while others recover and are pain free? The first longitudinal brain imaging study to track participants with a new back injury shows that the more two sections of the brain related to emotional and motivational behavior communicate, the greater likelihood a patient will develop chronic pain. Researchers were able to predict, at the beginning of the study, which participants would go on to develop chronic pain based on the level of brain interaction.

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