When you’re in constant pain, it can be hard to think of anything else. The pain clouds your thoughts like a fog, wearing away at your patience and your attention. New research, however, suggests that when relief does finally come, your brain can recover all the way down to a cellular level.
Previous research has suggested that chronic pain leads to a loss in volume of gray matter, and potentially function,in several brain regions. Laura Stone, lead author of the current study and a researcher at McGill University, said she expected a slowdown, not a reversal, of these kinds of losses. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is a particularly interesting area because it’s also associated with decision-making, anxiety, depression and emotion.

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