Due to its relative inactivity and anatomical features, osteochondrosis rarely affects the thoracic region, but this disease cannot be called rare. Therefore, if you feel stiffness and pain in the area of the shoulder blades, it is worth finding out what osteochondrosis of the thoracic spine is, what are its symptoms and methods of treatment.
Indeed, the disease is rarely localized in this part of the spine, but brings unpleasant consequences and sensations no less than damage to the neck and lower back. Its peculiarity can be safely defined as "cloudiness" of symptoms, in which even an experienced doctor can get confused at the beginning of the disease.
What is thoracic osteochondrosis?
Osteochondrosis - degenerative-dystrophic lesions of the discs between the vertebrae and the vertebrae themselves.
As already mentioned, the disease manifests itself in the thoracic region much less often than in the lumbar or cervical one due to such features:
- the thoracic region is inactive;
- it is well fixed by the ribs and the whole chest
- due to kyphosis (i. e. the physiological flexion of the posterior spine) in the thoracic region, the vertebrae undergo maximum stress in the anterior, more resistant part.
But, unfortunately, everyone can develop a disorder, especially if there are prerequisites for it.
What does an MRI of the thoracic spine show?
Diagnosis of a disease that has formed in the thoracic region must be done comprehensively, and MRI shows the real picture better than most studies.
How is an MRI done?
Everything is simple and painless: you have to lie down on a bench, which enters a special spherical chamber and wait for the allotted time until the equipment "lights up" the body. It is worth removing all metal objects in advance and alerting staff to any pacemakers, prostheses and other foreign things in the body.
In general, osteochondrosis was previously diagnosed exclusively with the help of palpation: they probed the vertebrae, there is pain, which means that osteochondrosis is present. Now doctors supplement their knowledge with special studies, among which the most informative is MRI, which allows you to establish degenerative phenomena in the cartilage and vertebrae, to determine the presence of hernias, the peculiarities of their development.
If you're not afraid of tight spaces, you can even take a nap.
Symptoms of osteochondrosis of the thoracic spine
Symptoms of insidious osteochondrosis in the thoracic region are able to successfully hide for a long time, without manifesting themselves and without causing pain or even discomfort. And later, when the damage is already causing noticeable manifestations, it is sometimes difficult to determine the source of painful sensations: they can give to the heart, internal organs, legs. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze this problem in detail.
Hence, doctors distinguish several types of symptoms.
Reflexes are directly related to the negative effects of the disease on various receptors.
As a result, the patient feels:
- pain in the shoulder blade area or just below, often encircling and tightening "like a circle";
- the focus of pain can be located in different parts of the body - in the sternum, simulating heart attacks, in the right side, disguised as a liver, and also in the lower back, such as renal colic, therefore, during diagnosis, it is often it is necessary to undergo a full examination of the internal organs to conclude that there is a back problem.
Symptoms of compression appear due to compression or stretching of the nerve roots,
consequently, there may be:
- weakness in the legs, they seem to refuse;
- loss of sensation in the limbs;
- numbness in the pinched area, feeling of "goosebumps";
- feeling of coma in the chest;
- the tension of the surrounding muscles, which is encountered during the massage;
- deterioration of organ work, fortunately these neglected cases are rare.
Given the peculiarities of women's physiology, the symptoms of osteochondrosis in the thoracic region are sometimes confused with other diseases.
Often, the pain radiates to the mammary glands, which automatically makes a woman think about problems with her breasts.
The drawing, regular pains resemble fibrosis, tumors, and other problems with the gland, which makes you rush to a mammologist for a consultation. And if the doctor, after tests, examination and mammography, does not find abnormalities in the structure and functioning of the mammary glands, then one can safely assume the presence of osteochondrosis.
Causes of osteochondrosis of the thoracic region
The causes of osteochondrosis for the chest and other regions are the same, but in order for the problem to be localized exactly here, clear prerequisites are needed:
- curvature of the spine, especially the thoracic region;
- the presence of bad habits;
- wearing high-heeled shoes;
- staying in an unnatural position for a long time, for example in front of a computer, a sewing machine, weeding a garden;
- enormous physical activity;
- hereditary predisposition to back diseases;
- pregnancy that causes a shift in the center of gravity;
- flat feet and refusal to wear special orthopedic insoles;
- spinal injury.
Signs of osteochondrosis of the thoracic region
Signs of osteochondrosis in the thoracic region are pain, stiffness, muscle tension in this area. As we have already established, reflex and compression syndromes are distinguished, the former need to be discussed in more detail.
Dorsago and back pain
The most obvious reflex syndromes of the disease are back and back pain. What is that?
Dorsago - sharp, sharp, sharp pain in the spine, as if someone had stuck a knife in the back. Sometimes the painful sensations spread to the heart or breastbone.
The sensations are so "rainbow" that the patient is afraid to make any movement and even to breathe deeply. During palpation, you can notice muscle tension near the spine. Most often, an attack occurs after prolonged sitting in an uncomfortable position and a sharp change in it. Due to the severity of the pain and its location in the chest, the back is often mistaken for a heart attack, but the removed cardiogram clarifies the picture.
Back pain is a aching pain that occurs gradually, covers the thoracic back, chest, intensifies with movement, especially tilting and turning the body, including from sneezing or riding bumps.
It is unfortunate that it is sometimes difficult to determine the most painful area - these are superficial or deep tissues, of the back or chest, which complicates the definition of the correct diagnosis.
What is called intercostal neuralgia?
Sometimes pain is noted in the intercostal spaces, so the symptom is called intercostal neuralgia, this symptom characterizes:
- severe pain, covering the intercostal space, sometimes radiates to the lower back, arm or shoulder blade and lasts for hours or even days;
- pain when probing the ribs;
- redness or pallor of the skin in the center of inflammation, burning sensation or vice versa, numbness;
- the inability to breathe evenly and deeply: each breath brings torment;
- some muscles in the chest or back contract spontaneously.
How to treat intercostal neuralgia at home
Before treating intercostal neuralgia, it is necessary to correctly determine the diagnosis, since its symptoms are similar to heart ailments, and if you start fighting the disease at home with a real myocardial problem, you can have huge problems.
If this is not the first attack and the doctor confirms the diagnosis, you can resort to home treatment methods, among which the most important are:
- bed rest for 2-3 days;
- take a sedative to relieve pain and relieve spasm;
- the use of local analgesics in gels and ointments;
- the use of warming agents - mustard plasters and pepper plasters;
- restoration of nerve tissues by taking vitamins of group B;
- fixation of the spine, for this purpose a corset is used that keeps the body in the correct position and reduces compression of the vertebrae.
Back pain can really be removed in a couple of days, but to avoid relapse, you will have to fight the cause itself for several months.
Atypical signs of breast osteochondrosis
In addition to clinical manifestations, thoracic osteochondrosis can have completely atypical signs, which are so easy to confuse with other ailments. Between them:
- imitation of pain in the heart or chest in women, discomfort can torment for weeks, but further examinations do not reveal problems with the heart and chest;
- localization of pain in the iliac region, as in gastritis or colitis, or on the right side, as in the case of liver dysfunction, the diagnosis is complicated by the deterioration of digestion due to a lack of conduction of impulses along the nerves, and here it is difficult to determine the record;
- disruptions in urination and erectile function, which also occur due to a failure in the conduction of nerve endings.
But there is a small clue: the aggravation manifests itself closer to the night, growing every hour after waking up due to pinching of the nerves in the back, and after rest it passes, while disturbances in the work of the heart or others internal organs are evident all day.
How to treat osteochondrosis of the thoracic spine?
Treatment of osteochondrosis in the thoracic spine is a long matter, moreover, it is impossible to restore the tissues, it will only be possible to slow down the process, prevent it from getting worse. But this does not mean that you can calm down, reconcile and do nothing, realizing the futility of efforts, because the treatment will give you the opportunity to live and work fully, and although the neglected forms will not end fatally, they will significantly ruin life.
Pharmacological treatment
At the first symptoms of osteochondrosis, drug treatment involves the use of drugs that relieve pain, for these purposes it is better to take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
They are prescribed for 1-2 weeks, during which, as a rule, the pain disappears.
It is possible to combine taking pills, capsules or suppositories with local analgesics or compresses (although they can cause allergies, so before use it is necessary to drip on a small area of the skin and wait half an hour), similar ointments are also suitable.
Sometimes, with pains of special strength, anti-inflammatory drugs are powerless, and therefore analgesics in the form of a dropper are saved.
In some cases, you have to inject painkillers right down the spine, the procedure is called a paravertebral block and is done by a doctor in a hospital.
Subsequently, muscle relaxants are used to relax the muscles, diuretics are prescribed against edema around the nerve endings, and blood circulation and tissue regeneration restore trophies. In the future, to prevent relapses, you will need to drink chondroprotectors for several months.
Home treatment
At home, you can resort to many non-drug methods for the treatment of osteochondrosis, these are:
- massage;
- Physical therapy;
- stretching exercises;
- compresses and infusions to normalize the metabolism of the vertebrae.
As for the last point, here you can recommend such folk remedies:
- rub with calendula tincture, for this, take 200 grams of vodka, triple alcohol and camphor alcohol per 100 grams of a flower, insist 14 days and rub on the affected area before going to bed, wrapping it with a warm scarf;
- mix the same amount of orange peels and lemon balm and pour a glass of boiling water, leave for an hour, strain, add 1 tsp each. tincture of valerian and honey, drink ½ glass twice a day for a month.
Exercises for the thoracic region
Perhaps it is the exercises for osteochondrosis in the thoracic region that will be most effective in preventing subsequent complications.
Gymnastics relieves stiffness, relaxes muscles, strengthens them and increases a person's physical activity. Constant and regular training accelerates blood circulation, removes inflammation of the nerve roots, reduces stress on the spine, and this physical therapy is suitable not only for damage in the thoracic region, but also for any part of the spine.
But doctors do not recommend using such a set of exercises during periods of severe exacerbations, with poor general health, coordination problems, hypertension and arrhythmias.
Before training, it is better to take a shower, stretch the muscles with massage and warm-up.
So, the best exercises:
- shrugs in turn 10 times;
- turn your head to the sides, freezing in extreme places for a few seconds;
- put your hands on your back under the shoulder blades, bend over and freeze for 10 seconds;
- in a standing position, bend to the side, touching the knee with the shoulder, repeat in the other direction;
- lying on the floor, we put a roller under the thoracic region, put our hands behind the head and raise the shoulders, then move the roller a little higher, this movement is aimed at stretching this section of the spine;
- lying on our stomach, we raise the chest above the floor, first with the arms extended forward, then with the arms extended to the sides, and finally with those tied behind a padlock.
Such a refill helps to forget about back problems for many months.
Massage
Massage in case of osteochondrosis of the thoracic region helps to relieve pain, improve blood circulation and lymphatic outflow, relieve muscle spasm, improve their tone and increase the trophism of the intervertebral cartilage.
As a rule, the course does not begin immediately on the first day, but after 3-4 days, when the main unpleasant sensations have already disappeared, in rare cases the masseur can help during the exacerbation period.
The first sessions must be carried out gently, without excessive pressure on the tissues; both skilled hands and special massage machines are suitable as tools. It is not worth doing a massage without proper experience and education - you can only aggravate the problem, so do not skimp on a course from a professional.
Manual therapy
At first glance, manual therapy is similar to massage: the same caress with the hands, but in reality a chiropractor, unlike a masseur, acts not on the muscles and skin, but on the vertebrae themselves, which requires more strength and skills .
It uses techniques of percussion, alternation of tension and relaxation of the muscles, flexion of the spine to eliminate disturbances in the structure of the spine and instrumental methods in the treatment of elderly patients.
A manual therapy professional is able to improve the tone of the back muscles, restore mobility to the spine, correct its curvature and prolapse of the vertebrae, and improve blood circulation.
Prevention is the best treatment
To prevent the occurrence of this unpleasant disease, you will have to make an effort, but it will be worth it. Recommended:
- monitor weight, since the additional kilograms are an additional burden on the spine;
- eat well and varied;
- avoid hypothermia of the spine;
- playing sports, especially when working sedentary, swimming is perfect;
- take breaks and warm up at work (some exercises from the above complex will do);
- change pose when you spend a long time in front of the computer, at a table
- avoid excessive stress on the spine.
Nutritional adjustment
The condition of the joints, blood vessels and bones directly depends on nutrition, and if symptoms of osteochondrosis appear, it is worth correcting it. Hence, it is worth excluding:
- smoked meats that clog the body;
- fried, causing the appearance of extra pounds;
- sweet;
- soda, especially sweet.
Instead go to:
- boiled and broths of pork, chicken and rabbit;
- vegetables;
- greens;
- dairy products, in particular kefir, cheese and cottage cheese;
- boiled fish at least once a week;
- fruit, apples are better.
Correct postures in a dream
Chest osteochondrosis dictates its own rules even in dreams, requiring you to choose the most correct postures. You will have to give up your favorite rest on the stomach: in this position, the head is thrown back and the blood vessels are compressed, compromising blood circulation in the brain.
The best poses for the disease are:
- sideways, when all organs and limbs are at rest and uncompressed;
- on the back;
- in the fetal position with bent legs pulled towards the chest, the back muscles relax well.
I point out that no less attention should be paid to the bed, which should be with a solid base, a hard orthopedic mattress and a small pillow on which only the head without shoulders rests, supported at the level of the body. We will have to say goodbye to our favorite soft mattress and a huge down pillow.
Sitting posture
Sitting with chronic osteochondrosis should also be corrected! Tips that must be strictly followed:
- avoid upholstered furniture;
- select a chair so that the legs reach the floor and the depth is 2/3 of the thigh;
- there should be plenty of space under the table when sitting so that you don't have to bend your legs;
- with prolonged sitting every 10-15 minutes, change position, warm up, walk;
- make sure your back rests on your back;
- do not lean forward to avoid muscle tears;
- while driving, place a roller under the lower back to preserve the physiological bending;
- even while relaxing on a sofa or bed, change positions every hour, relax your back muscles, and stretch.
Osteochondrosis is not a fatal disease, but a very unpleasant one that must be kept under control from the first manifestations. Now you know what to look for, how to recognize multiple symptoms, what exercises to do with osteochondrosis and defeat it. Dare and be healthy!