Signs and Symptoms from Injury of Thoracic Spine?
You already know the most serious thoracic spine injury can lead to paralysis or other difficult outcomes, but what effects can a less severe injury to the upper and middle back have on the rest of the body? Find out just how many things can go wrong when there’s damage to this area of the spine.
Unexpected Effects From Injury Of Thoracic Spine
When you’re involved in an accident or sustain a traumatic injury to the back, you likely expect to feel pain and discomfort in this area. What you may not expect, though, are to find other areas seemingly unrelated to your spine in distress.
The middle of your back, from the T1 through T12 vertebrae, are called the thoracic spine. Thoracic Spinal Cord injury can lead to a host of often unexpected issues, because it’s the longest portion of the spine and houses the parts of the spinal cord responsible for regulating several systems. Subluxations or injuries along this portion of the spine can be an underlying cause of many conditions, depending upon the affected vertebrae.
- T1 –Pain in the hands and lower arms, asthma, difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, chronic cough.
- T2 –Certain types of heart conditions and problems within the chest.
- T3 –Bronchitis, congestion and pneumonia.
- T4 –Jaundice, shingles and gallbladder problems.
- T5 –Poor circulation and blood pressure issues, arthritis, liver conditions and unexplained fevers.
- T6 –Difficulties with the stomach, including heartburn and indigestion.
- T7 –Ulcers and gastritis.
- T8 –Lowered resistance to illness and weak immune system.
- T9 –Allergies and hives
- T10 –Kidney dysfunction, chronic fatigue, nephritis, pyelitis and hardening of the arteries.
- T11 –Problematic skin conditions, boils, eczema and acne.
- T12 –Specific reproductive difficulties, gas pain and rheumatism.
These can all be symptoms of subluxation and mild to moderate thoracic spine injury, because this area of the spine houses areas of the spinal cord and nerves responsible for transmitting information from the brain to these specific regions. Misalignments due to injury or degeneration effectively block some signals, leading to health complaints that seem completely unrelated to the spine at first look.
Treating Thoracic Spine Injury
Some injuries to the back are traumatic enough to stand out in your memory, but some happen gradually or cause minimal pain in the back, manifesting only through distress calls in other areas of the body. In either case, a chiropractor is uniquely qualified to diagnose and treat the underlying issues along the thoracic region of the spine.
Chiropractic therapy is built around the concept of correcting subluxations and misalignments to clear the way for vital messages from the brain to other parts of the body. Working with a chiropractor to address these injuries can, in turn, increase your quality of life in ways you may not have expected from chiropractic care. Most patients also feel a significant reduction in pain, less stiffness and better range of motion over the course of their treatment. Because it’s low-risk, non-invasive and does not involve prescription pain medication, it’s also safe and treatment won’t interfere with your daily life.
