Physiotherapy for pain in the thoracic spine

Pain in the thoracic spine can be very unpleasant. Physiotherapy can often combat the complaints well.

Phyiotherapy/exercises

In physiotherapy for complaints in the thoracic spine, a precise diagnosis is first made with the patient, which describes the cause of the complaints and the background to them. An individual and targeted treatment plan is then drawn up, which includes not only alleviating the symptoms but also eliminating the causes. Contents of the therapy are: Pain relief, relaxation of tense muscles, if necessary: manual mobilization of individual joints, a targeted exercise program to eliminate muscular imbalances, as well as posture training and advice on how to behave in everyday life.

In addition to the physiotherapeutic treatment, the patient should also receive a homework program, which he can carry out regularly at home. Especially in chronic pain, which is usually accompanied by structural changes, the causes of the pain cannot usually be completely resolved in physiotherapy. The patient must change his behavior over a long period of time and perform the exercises regularly to rebuild the tissue.

Since, as a rule, a lack of uprightness due to a unilaterally forward bending posture of the upper body is very often the cause of complaints in the thoracic spine, some exercises are described below that may be useful for complaints in the thoracic spine. Of course, an individual training plan should be developed by a therapist for long-term and safe therapeutic success. To improve the straightening of the spine, the spine can be prepared for the upcoming training by simple mobilization exercises.

1.) For this purpose the patient sits upright on a stool. The feet stand hip-wide and parallel to the floor, the knees should be bent about 90°.

The arms are now crossed and the hands are placed on the knees. In the starting position the upper body is slightly tilted forward, the gaze always follows the hands. With the inhalation the arms are now opened and stretched straight and far upwards and sideways away from the body from the crossed position.

The hands open, the gaze now points forward and upwards. A pulling in the shoulders and a tension between the shoulder blades should be noticeable. The chest rises, the movement should fall slightly, but be executed in a controlled and powerful manner.

With the exhalation you go back to the starting position. The exercise can be performed up to 20 times in a row. It can be done in 3-4 sets several times a day if it is good for the patient.

More exercises can be found in the article: Mobilization exercise for BWSTo strengthen the usually too weak muscles between the shoulder blades, an easy exercise for everyday life is recommended. A scarf or towel can be used as an aid. Alternatively, a stick (e.g. broom handle) can also be useful.

2.) The starting position is again the upright sitting on a stool. The patient holds the towel or rod in both hands in front of the body.

The elbows are loose! stretched out and not fully pushed through, the shoulders have a lot of distance to the ear and are not raised. The hands should be about shoulder width apart.

Now the patient should pull the towel or stick apart without changing the position of the elbows. You can see almost no movement. The tension should be felt between the shoulder blades and in the upper back.

It is possible that the arms start to tremble. This is an isometric tension of the muscles, which means that there is hardly any change in the length of the muscle but it works anyway. Muscles often tremble during this type of training.

The tension should be held for about 5 seconds. The air should never be held during the exercise. After 5 seconds the tension can be released briefly before repeating the exercise again.

There can be 15 repetitions in 3-4 sets. With this exercise as basic exercise many variations can be done. The arms can be raised above the head during the tension.

The starting position can be varied. It should be started easily before the exercise becomes more difficult. More exercises can be found in the article: Exercises for the thoracic spine