If not for years of brain research, I would be living in unending, unremitting pain. My head would be twisted to one side, and I’d cope as best I could with a diet of old-timey muscle relaxants and painkillers. Some muscles would atrophy, while others would become abnormally large.

But brain research permits me to live with my cervical dystonia, a relatively rare brain condition, with no pain. The research resulted in a treatment – Botox injections in muscles that my brain is ordering to contract – that has few serious side effects.

I can concentrate. I kayak, bike, lift weights. I can do anything I want. A year ago, I freeclimbed up a sheer rock face.

Brain conditions run the gamut from migraines to multiple sclerosis, from dementia to dyslexia. Dealing with brain conditions is close to a........

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