What is a pinched nerve in the chest?
The nerves from the thoracic spine come from the spinal cord and from there they move towards the ribcage. An incarceration can occur along the entire length of the nerve. Typical sites for entrapment are Often, we speak of an entrapped nerve in the thoracic/ thoracic spine when actually only the muscles are tense, causing pain similar to that experienced when a nerve is entrapped.
- Along the spinal cord along the vertebral body
- Under the ribs
- Between the lungs and the ribs
Causes for a pinched nerve in the chest
The most common acute cause of a trapped nerve in the thoracic/chest spine is sudden movement. This can occur, for example, when a heavy load is lifted jerkily. A traffic accident with whiplash and the fracture of a vertebral body or rib can also lead to an incarceration.
If the entrapment occurs during a so-called minor trauma (a trauma/movement that is actually too weak to entrap the nerve), weakened back muscles are often the underlying cause. The back muscles become weaker due to the currently typical sedentary lifestyle. Bad posture accelerates this weakening.
Due to insufficiently developed muscles, the spine cannot be sufficiently stabilized even with small movements and impacts. As a result, vertebral bodies can shift slightly in relation to each other and thus pinch a nerve. As a sudden movement, physical protective functions such as coughing or sneezing can also lead to the pinching of a nerve.
This usually affects those nerves that are located at the ribs. Other causes can be a herniated disc that presses on the spinal cord and congenital or acquired malpositions. When coughing, the lungs are compressed jerkily in order to get rid of pathogens that have settled in the lungs as efficiently as possible.
The so-called intercostal muscles (the muscles between the individual ribs) are suddenly tensed so that the chest is rapidly reduced in size. In addition, the diaphragm presses jerkily against the lungs from below. These two mechanisms press the lung strongly against the ribs, which can lead to the nerve being pressed against the rib. Sometimes the nerve can even be displaced by coughing in such a way that it gets trapped between a rib and the muscles.
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