The anatomical features of the thoracic spine have a minimum range of motion. The main load falls on the anterior thoracic region, as a result of which the intervertebral discs are more often affected. Osteochondrosis of the thoracic spine in athletes is most often found in sports such as athletics (long jump, height, throwing), wrestling, skiing, weightlifting and rowing.
Symptoms . The pains are localized in the spine and often extend to the area of the angle of the scapula along the intercostal nerves. Pain arises after physical exertion, as a rule, at the end of training sessions against the background of muscle overwork or a long stay in one position (for rowers, skiers, skaters). Irradiation of pain in the heart often provokes an attack of angina pectoris. Pain in the region of the heart caused by degenerative changes in the intervertebral discs and subsequent involvement in the pathological process of the spinal roots is accompanied by headaches. Sometimes the pain spreads to the right hypochondrium, simulating diseases of the liver and biliary tract.
An X-ray of the thoracic spine reveals analgesic scoliosis, a decrease in the height of the intervertebral discs, spondylosis, the presence of Schmorl nodules, sclerosis of the end plates. It should be emphasized that one of the features of the clinical, x-ray and pathological manifestations of osteochondrosis in athletes is the mismatch of clinical signs with radiological.
The treatment is conservative and necessarily comprehensive. The treatment regimen is based on clinical and radiological studies. In the period of exacerbation of the disease, athletes are prescribed strict bed rest in a position on the shield for up to 10-12 days. Drug therapy is carried out (injections of B vitamins, vitreous, painkillers and symptomatic agents). Unloading the spine on an inclined plane. Physiotherapy, massage, physiotherapy exercises are widely used.
Intervertebral osteochondrosis
Osteochondrosis of the lumbosacral spine in athletes takes a leading place among diseases of the spine of a degenerative nature and is most often observed in athletes, gymnasts, acrobats, rowers, weightlifters. The specifics of each sport leaves a certain imprint on the clinical-radiological manifestations of this pathology of the spine.
Signs of degeneration of the intervertebral discs and paravertebral tissues are detected already at the age of 15-20 years. The appearance of degenerative changes at an earlier age, as a rule, is associated not so much with an increase in physical activity, but rather with some congenital or acquired features of the development of the spine, which create a certain unfavorable situation in which sports activity contributes to the development of early pathological changes.
Among athletes, the most common complaints about pain and lumbar spine are sprinters, jumpers in length, height, throwers. As it turned out, sprinters use weight-bearing exercises that exceed the physiological capabilities of the ligamentous-muscular apparatus of the spine. Sometimes the weights used by them correspond to some weights that weightlifters use. It should be borne in mind that the special strength training of sprinters is significantly different from the strength training of weightlifters.
For gymnasts and acrobats are characterized by increased mobility of the spine in general, rotary motion, large axial load on the lumbar spine. Extreme amplitude states contribute to the appearance of micromotion in the motor segment of the spine (the disk-body of adjacent vertebrae), the development of segmental instability. Injuries and microtraumas of the lumbar spine in gymnasts are possible with falls, unsuccessful dismounts without reliable insurance.