|  | Conditions Treatments | Wounds Injuries

Which Level of Thoracic Spine Is Prone to Injury?

The thoracic spine is divided into segments, or levels, which doctors use to describe spinal injuries. Most injuries to the thoracic spine occur in the lowest level of T12.

  1. Identification

    • The vertebrae are divided into three main areas: lumbar spine or low back; cervical spine or neck; and thoracic spine or middle back/chest region. Each of these areas is divided by its specific number of bones/discs, with each bone considered a level.

    Features

    • The thoracic spine is the longest section, with 12 levels, or bones. T1 is at the top, referred to as the highest level, and T12 is the lowest level, closest to the lumbar spine or low back.

    T12 Level

    • Spine fractures occur 60 to 70 percent of the time in the T12 level, and 90 percent of those fractures do not include spinal cord injury, according to mdguidelines.com.

    Injuries

    • Thoracic fractures are most often caused by car accidents, falls, sports injuries or violence. In individuals with osteoporosis, a minor trauma can also cause a thoracic spine fracture.

    Types

    • The four types of thoracic injuries are compression, burst, flexion-distraction and fracture-dislocation. The most common is a compression fracture, usually as a result of being bent forward or to the side in an accident. A burst fracture refers to a thoracic spine that has been crushed, and a flexion-distraction is a separation of the levels and is often caused by lap belts worn too high in an auto accident. Fracture-dislocations are a combination of all types and are usually combined with spinal cord injury, leading to paraplegia or paralysis.

Wounds Injuries - Related Articles