Thoracic back pain is an uncommon type of back pains. The most common type of back pain is the lower back pain followed by the neck or the cervical spine pain. Thoracic back pain is identified if and only if the pain of the upper back is of unknown origin. Causes of such pain are usually known if pain persists and when the right test is given. Thoracic back pain can be a symptom of an unrecognized damaged or injury.
Other back conditions like Scoliosis, Osteoporosis or a herniated thoracic disc can bring about thoracic back pain. Although most of the time, the pain in thoracic spine is brought about by muscular and not of the spine. This often happens with individuals who has poor posture or those who have thoracic kyphosis.
Other diseases that has thoracic back pain as symptom is muscuskeletal diseases. Diseases not related to the bones like kidneys, abdominal conditions, heart and lungs can also result to thoracic back pain. Cancer is one condition too that can result to thoracic back pain since the spine is common location of cancerous tumors.
Who are at risk of thoracic back pain? The following individuals are the one at high risk of thoracic back pain. This data are source out at Medical Disability Advisor.
• Individuals who are obese.
• People who lead an inactive life.
• Those who are involved in strenuous sports
• Those who experience concurrent musculoskeletal disorders.
• Those who have osteoporosis due to vertebral compression fractures and according to records osteoporosis is twice more common to women than men. In fact this condition occurs in 26% of women age 50 but pain may be experience only by one third of the reported cases.
• About 15% of the general population do experience asymptomatic thoracic disc herniations. Most likely 100 per 100,000 populations do have symptoms.
Diagnosis of such conditions comprise of a thorough physical examinations. Your doctor will know just by examining the curve of your spine, even the measurement of your chest expansion when inhaling can indicate problems if it shows any abnormality and by pressing your spine with a fingertip to see if it illicit any pain at all. Loss of height too may indicate osteoporosis.
Aside from physical examinations, test may be given to confirm your results from physical examination. Test like X-rays and other test to rule out any other serious diseases like cancer.
Treatment usually consists of conservative treatment like physical therapies and taking of pain relievers. Most of the time rest is what one needs or a limitation of your day to day activities. Spine manipulation would be great help to reduce the pain. For preventive and maintenance measure then exercise should be apart of your health regime but if thoracic pain is a result of other diseases or injury then treatment depends on what kind of diseases you have or the type of injury.