correct posture

Thoracic pain

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thoracic pain

The thoracic spine is your mid back between lower back and neck. Each of the 12 vertebrae of your thoracic spine has a rib on each side. Acute thoracic spine pain can be very debilitating. When it hurts to breathe the joints between the ribs and the thoracic vertebral body and transverse process can be the source. Postural loading and stress are common causes of this type of pain. Another is trauma in sport, but you also need to make sure there are no rib or other fractures in these cases.

Simple analgesics are usually advised at first. Sometimes taping can limit the pain by restricting painful movement when pain is bad but shouldn’t be used for more than a few days. The next step is to get moving via walking in water or on land followed by stretches. At this stage massage and joint mobilisations can improve your overall movement and increase the speed of your recovery.

Get good advice early is the quickest way to get back to normal once you have acute thoracic pain. This also includes analysis of the causes and implementing movement-based prevention strategies. Read more here on how we can help or contact us on 4921 6879.

Do you know how to correct your posture?

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correct postureMaster the simple things and you will get the best outcomes!
We all have our own unique postures – some with increased curves, others with reduced curves, and sometimes with sideways curves (scoliosis). Posture should also be considered relative to whether you are sitting, standing or dynamically moving. Achieving a biomechanically correct spinal posture is important for several reasons.

Firstly, in helping our clients we often find that achieving the correct posture can reduce pain and discomfort associated with sustained standing and sitting postures. For those who have to stand for long periods in retail or hospitality, an increased curve in the lower back can lead to pain. A simple correction is to lean up against the wall slide down to bend the knees slightly and flatten the lower back to the wall. If this eases the discomfort we need to focus on what creates this posture type – tight hip flexors, poor tone or weakness in the lower abdominals and gluteal (buttock) muscles.

Alternatively those who get discomfort in the lower back, mid back or neck with sitting at the computer, it often is associated with the ‘lazy, slouched posture’ where the curve in your lower back (normally known as a lordosis) is reversed and there is one arched curve (instead of two) from base of the spine to base of the neck. The head then protrudes forwards and the shoulders become rounded. Again a simple correction is pelvic tilting – rolling the pelvis forwards over your hip bones. Getting that lordosis curve back in the lower back will often reduce pain and allows for the mid back (thoracic spine) and neck posture to be corrected. You have to get a stable base to work from and slouched is not a stable base.

Secondly correct posture increases the efficiency and safety of how we move, for example with lifting. The squat lift (knees fully bent) or semi-squat lift (knees bent to 90 degrees) are both acceptable methods of lifting. If you keep your lower back straight and bend at the hips and knees it will engage the gluteal muscles and provide stability to the pelvis and lower back.

The big message, it is OK to relax your posture at times so long as it isn’t occasions such as when you are lifting loads or sitting for prolonged periods.