Thoracic Disc Prolapse | Physio4Life

Thoracic disc prolapse

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INJURY TITLE

Thoracic disc prolapse

 

INJURY OVERVIEW

This is injury to the cartilage disc in between the bones in the middle of your spine.  This type of injury is very rare and seems to happen equally to men and women.

 

INJURY IN-DEPTH INFORMATION

A disc prolapse can vary from the disc contents leaking to the border of the disc and merely placing pressure upon the it, to the contents rupturing the disc completely and leaking out.  This can place pressure upon the nerve root nearby causing back and leg pain, but it doesn’t have to.

 

It should be remembered that no matter what type of disc injury, there will be swelling and this would place pressure upon everything around it.  The injury will have associated protective muscle spasm, and these things will cause varying levels of pain.

 

Conversely, not everyone suffers pain at all following spinal disc injuries.  Indeed many people will have disc problems and not know it.  Nonetheless, some of the common signs and symptoms will be mentioned in the next box.

 

COMMON SIGNS & SYMPTOMS

  • Pain in the middle of your spine (locally over the injured level)
  • Pain can refer along the ribs to the front of the chest
  • Loss of movement in the back
  • Loss of movement in the neck

 

HOW IS IT ASSESSED

  • Clinical examination to establish the severity of the injury and the disability level.
  • MRI scanning to help with accurate diagnosis

 

GENERAL TREATMENT

  • Pain management is to be considered first
  • Focused physiotherapy assessment and treatment program
  • Progressive exercise inside the boundaries of your pain
  • Manual therapy to help with joint stiffness and muscles around the injury (as the pain begins to subside)
  • Corticosteroid injection to help with acute and persistent inflammation
  • Occasionally and in rare cases, surgical intervention may be needed.

 

Exercise Videos: i.e.

  • Rotator cuff strengthening
  • Pec stretch
  • etc

 

WHICH HEALTH PROFESSIONAL TO CONSULT

PHYSIO     X

MEDIC     X

PODIATRY     

Put an ‘X’ next to each health professional that most commonly deals with this injury.

i.e. tennis elbow would be Physio and Medic as injections are common, whereas for muscular LBP it would be Physio and not Medic as they would just refer them to a Physio.

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