An age-based approach to evaluation and management of thoracic back pain

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An age-based approach to evaluation and management of thoracic back pain

Chris Milne

Chris Milne

Back pain
1. Eighteen-year-old male with Scheuermann disease showing end plate irregularity; 2. Wedge fracture of the T12 vertebral body; 3. Fifty-five-year-old male with thoracic disc disease (also a wedge fracture of T6)

As a practising clinician, you will see patients with thoracic back pain much less frequently than those with lumbar back pain. However, it is important to have a framework to understand the problems, so you can be of most help to these people, explains sports physician Chris Milne

The relative rarity of thoracic back pain is largely the result of anatomy. The ribs tend to act as a splint for the thoracic spinal segments, so move