Professor Kim Seung-hwan (PHYS), Kim Min-kyung (PHYS, Ph.D.), and a team from the University of Michigan Medical School found evidence of explosive synchronization in the brains of patients suffering from fibromyalgia. The research was published on the academic paper Scientific Report.
Fibromyalgia is a type of a chronic pain disease, which affects about two percent of the whole population. Patients feel immense pain even with minute stimulations near areas such as shoulders or spine. Until now, the cause of the disease was unclear.
The research team assumed to find the cause in the brain and measured the brainwaves of ten patients. The results of the analysis showed that their brain would react sensitively to even minor stimulations. Also, the brains that felt more pain had better conditions for explosive synchronization. According to the computer modeling based on the patients’ brains, the patients’ brain network connected explosively, while normal brains connected gradually. This is the first time explosive synchronization was applied to the human brain for therapeutic purposes.
Prof. Kim explained, “If we can figure out the cause of explosive synchronization, we can control that to relieve patients of their pain.”