Understanding Chronic Pain as a Disease of the Brain

http://www.medpagetoday.com/resource-center/pain-management/brain/a/38479
Detailed scientific explanation of how chronic pain causes harmful changes in the brain.

The plasticity of the CNS is characterized by functional, structural, and chemical changes in the brain. These changes are associated with activation of the pain matrix in response to chronic pain.

Advances in brain imaging technology reveal that patients with chronic pain have altered pain modulatory circuits as well as structural abnormalities.

Imaging techniques have a promising role to play in the diagnosis of different chronic pain disorders and assessment of responses to current and new therapeutic interventions.