Thoracic pain and motor control impairments

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Thoracic pain and motor control impairments

Thoracic pain and motor control impairments

This is the diagnose classification for patients who have more range of motion than muscular stability. Often these patients present with the following signs and symptoms:

Reporting feelings of the back “giving out”
Frequent need to crack or pop the back
Frequent episodes
History of catching or locking
Pain during activities that involve a change in position (i.e., getting out of bed)
Increase in pain returning to standing following bending forward
Pain with mild movements
Difficulty sitting unsupported
Condition progressively worsening
Long-term history of pain
Frequent episodes of muscle spasms
Temporary relief with a back brace

Treatments include:

Graded strengthening and motor control approach to increase muscular stability
Dry needling to reduce muscular tension
Manual therapy to reduce pain and improve range of motion (when indicated)

Further, treatments will address range of motion and strength requirements for all your desired goals.

References:

Cook, C., Brismée, J. and Sizer, P., 2006. Subjective and objective descriptors of clinical lumbar spine instability: A Delphi study. Manual Therapy, 11(1), pp.11-21.
Delitto, A., George, S., Van Dillen, L., Whitman, J., Sowa, G., Shekelle, P., Denninger, T. and Godges, J., 2012. Low Back Pain. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 42(4), pp. A1-A57.

How do we track your progress?

We define patient-centered goals as what you hope to accomplish from physical therapy. While these are typically activity-specific goals, often patients report they just wish to experience less pain.

Benefits of Spinal Manipulation

Spinal manipulations include positioning of a patient and then performing a single, rapid movement to an area of the spine including cervical (neck), thoracic (upper back) and lumbar (lower back).

Physical Therapy for Kyphosis

Kyphosis refers to the normal rounding of the upper back. Occasionally, people will have excessive rounding and in this case the rounding/kyphosis is referred to as hyperkyphosis (hyper = above normal). This rounding increases naturally as we age and there is no standard definition of hyperkyphosis versus normal changes associated with aging. An increase in kyphosis is more common in women than men. The cause of an increase in kyphosis is due to muscle weakness and impairments in flexibility/mobility.