What war? I'm more interested in the fact that back pain has been linked to brain shrinkage. The study is at Northwestern University, and the article says that

The measurements revealed that people with chronic pain had less gray matter -- overall and in a part of the brain called the thalamus. Not only was there less gray matter in terms of volume in pain sufferers, but the tissue was also less dense, Apkarian said.

That's it. No more piano moving for me.