• Muscle strain / over use
• Thoracic spine degeneration (spondylosis)
• Thoracic disc herniation
• Thoracic myelopathy (stenosis)
• Trauma
• Tumor
• Infection
• Deformity

Try sitting more erect. Read the article to see an exercise that might help

• Stretching exercise.
• Light massage.
• Medications.

If the pain doesn't go away in a few days, or if it becomes hard to bear, have a spine specialist evaluate you to see if there are more serious causes. Make an appointment

• The pain is unbearable.
• The pain persists more than 3 weeks.
• There are arm symptoms with neck symptoms (pain, numbness, weakness).
• There are walking problems (imbalance, gait stiffness, wide-based gait).
• There are bowel and bladder control problems.

*The symptoms in bold point to a serious underlying cause and immediate medical treatment is required.

Your doctor will evaluate your movement and may order detailed imaging of your thoracic vertebrae. This will help determine the best course of treatment, which could include:

• Muscle stretching exercise
• Thoracic muscle strengthening
• Thoracic epidural steroid injection
• Thoracic spine surgery
• Posterior approach (Minimally invasive)
  • Laminectomy (decompression)
  • Laminectomy (decompression) and spinal instrumentation (fusion)
  • Microscopic surgery
  • Three dimension (3D) navigation O-Arm surgery
• Anterior approach
  • Thoracoscopic surgery (Video-Assisted Thoracic Spine Surgery, VATS) (minimally invasive)
  • Anterior thoracic spine fusion