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TL;DR: Changes in brain function due to spinal cord compression studied using fMRI.

Abstract: John W. Henson, MD, FAAN Bart P. Keogh, MD, PhD WHAT DID THE AUTHORS STUDY? Dr. Duggal and his coauthors1 studied changes in the size of areas in the brain controlling motor and sensory function in patients whose spinal cords were compressed—or squeezed—in the neck. This compression was caused by deterioration in the vertebra and discs. Normally, the motor control areas of the brain send signals down the spinal cord to the muscles in the body, and sensory nerve impulses are conducted up the spinal cord into the brain. The authors used a technique called fMRI (see explanation below) to see how the brain might respond if some of the signals were blocked in the spinal cord. The changes in brain function in these patients should be easy to study because there is no direct damage to the brain. Thus any changes should all be due to effect on the spinal cord pathways.