Thoracic spine pain refers to what the layperson thinks of as their back, the area between the shoulder blades. Thoracic spine pain is oftentimes musculoskeletal and compensatory, meaning that there are problems above or below the area of pain in the spine, causing referral pain to the mid-back. Other disease processes such as gallbladder pain and acid reflux can also cause symptoms in this area of the spine. An example is gallbladder pain, which often refers to the mid back when the gallbladder is diseased. For this reason, a doctor of chiropractic is needed to differentiate between musculoskeletal vs. organ referral pain.
