Chiropractors mostly use a hands-on type of therapy called spinal manipulation or adjustment, often used to treat musculoskeletal conditions and general problems with the joints, bones, muscles, and fascia. The basics of chiropractic therapy advocate that the body can health itself, the spine, and its function are closely related, and it's given to normalize these two—prompting the body to heal itself naturally.

 

Ask a PT Response: "First thing that comes to my mind is postural. Your body does change over the years and perhaps something may be impinging when you are sitting and playing the guitar. Perhaps at the costovertebral joints at the thoracic spine. Best probably to have a PT with orthopedic manual therapy experience evaluate you to determine what may be contributing to your condition so that a plan of care can be developed."

 

Ask a PT Response: "When you mention displacement of T7 are you referring to a disc or vertebral displacement? You also mentioned strain which is muscular involvement. Depending on the condition, the plan of care may vary."

 

Ask a PT Response: "Individuals who have a more curved thoracic spine (increased kyphosis) tend to have more issues than someone who has  decrease thoracic kyphosis. Anterior related strengthening exercises for the chest along with stretching of the traps, rhomboids & scapulae muscles may help facilitate an improvement with posture. Are you experiencing issues at your upper back which has led to your concern over the curvature of your thoracic spine?"

 

Ask a PT Response: "Without physically examining you I would not be able to give you an accurate PT diagnosis. From what you describe I would be more inclined to suspect a soft issue injury such as a strain or a muscle imbalance vs nerve or disc. I would also want to rule out any dysfunction at the costothoracic joint which may have occured as a result of you rolling over. Your PT will conduct an evaluation and examination and should be able to give you a better idea of what may be contributing to yor condition."

 

Ask a PT Response: "What a cool profession you are going in to. As far as your injury goes, definitely a good idea to give it a rest given the physical demands of your training. Pain at the back of the shoulder could be attributed to a number of factors including rhomboid strain, cervical discogenic syndrome, etc. If you are able to, it would probably be best for you to see a PT, especially since you notice that you are getting weaker over time. For my patients that have sustained a rhomboid strain, I would usually have them perform gentle stretching of the rhomboids/posterior shoulder ie. (pulling arm across chest), and gentle strengthening exercises (ie. pulling back with tubing, prone on gym ball bringing shoulder blades back with light weight, etc.). More aggresive strengthening exercises are gradually incorporated. Other treatment options I would consider for my patients include postural/functional training, sensorimotor training, manual therapy and/or modalities (ie. ultrasound, e-stim, etc.). I hope this helps."

 

Ask a PT Response: "Since you have been experiencing pain for this long and you developed chest pain, I would suggest you seek out medical attention as soon as possible. There could be a number of things going on, and without a physical examination, it would be extremely difficult to determine if your condition can be treated with physical therapy."