Mid Back Pain? Rib Pain?? Breathing Pain?!?

Mid Back Pain? Rib Pain?? Breathing Pain?!?

Does that sound like your pain? Here at Imagine Physical Therapy, we can help resolve your pain through a variety of techniques! Sometimes, when the middle of your back, what we Physical Therapist call the Thoracic spine, gets stiff or doesn’t move properly, it can cause a variety of pain and issues.¹ We can use different techniques including manipulations, Mulligan mobilizations, and dry needling to help resolve these issues and more! In fact, research shows that treating this area can help other issues including low back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, rib pain, and even breathing pain.

Crack the Back!

Manipulations are specific movements that Physical Therapists provide to help relieve joint pain, stiffness, and ease tension. We can target the thoracic spine, typically resulting in the satisfying sound and feeling of cracking or popping a joint. Thoracic manipulations can relieve pain and tightness in the back, neck, and shoulder^2,3,4,5. There are several options for different techniques that we can use to get rid of your pain, let us find the perfect one that works for you!

Move the Back!

Mulligan mobilizations are another technique that we use here at Imagine PT to help relieve your pain. Mulligan mobilizations are simple, easy, and effective to help improve motion and correct “positional faults.” This can be done simply by using our hands to apply a force at a joint, while you perform a movement that is typically painful or limited. Often, this can help bring an instant relief in pain, increase in motion, and even be long lasting! Mulligan mobilizations have also been shown to relieve mid-back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, rib pain, breathing pain, and improve posture^6,7,8.

Not needles!

Oh yes, needles… but not your typical needle from the doctor visit that hurts! Dry needling, as we call it, is a tool where tiny needles are inserted into muscles to help relieve pain and tightness. At Imagine PT, safety is our top priority when performing dry needling and our therapists are trained to use them to your benefit. These needles can be inserted into areas that are specific to your pain, to individually help YOU!

What are you waiting for!

If you experience any of following problems mentioned above, then what are you waiting for, call Imagine Physical Therapy today and let us help you!

References

1.     Manual physical therapy of the spine - saunders 

2.     Fisher, L. R., Alvar, B. A., Maher, S. F., & Cleland, J. A. (2020). Short-term effects of thoracic spine thrust manipulation, exercise, and education in individuals with low back pain: a randomized controlled trial. journal of orthopaedic & sports physical therapy, 50(1), 24-32.

3.     Young, I. A., Pozzi, F., Dunning, J., Linkonis, R., & Michener, L. A. (2019). Immediate and short-term effects of thoracic spine manipulation in patients with cervical radiculopathy: a randomized controlled trial. journal of orthopaedic & sports physical therapy, 49(5), 299-309.

4.     Joshua A Cleland, Paul Glynn, Julie M Whitman, Sarah L Eberhart, Cameron MacDonald, John D Childs, Short-Term Effects of Thrust Versus Nonthrust Mobilization/Manipulation Directed at the Thoracic Spine in Patients With Neck Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Physical Therapy, Volume 87, Issue 4, 1 April 2007, Pages 431–440, https://doi.org/10.2522/ptj.20060217

5.     Belón-Perez P, Cuesta-Vargas AI. Immediate effects of thoracic spine manipulation upon shoulder functionality in patients with sutured rotator cuff repair: a prospective study. J Manip Physiol Ther. 2018;41(7):589–95.

6.     6-  Andrews, D. P., Odland-Wolf, K. B., May, J., Baker, R., & Nasypany, A. (2018). THE UTILIZATION OF MULLIGAN CONCEPT THORACIC SUSTAINED NATURAL APOPHYSEAL GLIDES ON PATIENTS CLASSIFIED WITH SECONDARY IMPINGEMENT SYNDROME: A MULTI-SITE CASE SERIES. International journal of sports physical therapy, 13(1), 121–130.

7.     7- Elgendy, M. H., Mohamed, S. R., Abuelkasem, S. T., & Mohamed, S. E. (2020). Effect of Mulligan sustained natural apophyseal glides on thoracic Cobb angle in subjects with thoracic kyphosis. Egyptian Journal of Applied Science, 35(11), 108-17.

8.     8- Inderpreet, Kaur & Ranganathan, Arunmozhi & Umer, Arfath. (2013). EFFECT OF MAITLAND VS MULLIGAN MOBILISATION TECHNIQUE ON UPPER THORACIC SPINE IN PATIENTS WITH NON-SPECIFIC NECK PAIN-A COMPARATIVE STUDY. Int J Physiother Res. 1. 214-18.