What is a t3 t4 disc bulge and what does it affect?

Answer 1

A T3-T4 disc bulge is slight protrusion of the of the intervertabral disc, in between the Thoracic vertebrate number 3 and 4 of the spine, without the anulus fibrosus (the wall) rupturing and nucleus pulpous (the gel like center) leaking out.

T3-T4-T5 - This is a rather important area, and in Chinese medicine this area houses the pressure point called "Air Door". This pressure point is the root of the nerve that travels from the spinal cord housed inside the vertebrates and along the rib to the very front of your chest. Bulges and inflammation of this area typically occurs if a person has a poor posture such as slouch while remaining in a stationary position for long periods of time e.g. sitting slouched in front of a computer. Actual herniation or rupture of the disc is rather rare, and only typically occurs if sufficient trauma force is applied to the chest. Another interesting fact is that while the trauma force may not be enough to cause a rupture, it may lead also lead to a "shock" of sorts to the nerve and it may in a sense "clench up" as a defensive reaction. This may also lead to the same effect as having a bulge, however given sufficient time the nerve will relax and revert to normal, this however varies for different people.

Bulges and inflammation of these area have rather serious consequences if given enough time if developed. Due to its location, as the pressure point name implies "air door", the nerve root sits directly in the center behind our ribcage which house our lungs. Every time we breath in, our lungs and chest ribcage expand to accommodate an increased volume of air in our lungs. Due to increased volume we also see a increased amount of internal pressure. Normally this is not a problem, however if the disc is bulging ever so slightly, this increase amount of internal pressure may be just enough put pressure of the nerve causing pain and discomfort.

This pain and discomfort varies from people to people. But the biggest signs of symptoms for people is the inability to take deep breathes. The greater the bulge, the shorter the breath the person suffers. Pain and discomfit from this problem surprisingly doesn't appear at the origin of the problem. But rather travels along the nerve right to the end of the nerves to the front of the chest. Hence people with this problem suffer "aches" in their front of the chest, increasing when trying to breathe deeper. Usually at a certain a certain point, the person will not be able to breathe any further and any more attempts will usually end into a coughing fit.

A blocked "air door" also has another interesting symptom. Occasionally if the problem is severe enough, people may some times experience a sharp excruciating clenching pain in their left chest right above the heart, attacking with no sudden warning. But this usually lasts only for 1 or 2 seconds and seemingly fades away, this symptoms has lead to many people panicking thinking they may be suffering from heart problems, and often leave doctors baffled when tests come back showing negative reports and a perfectly healthy heart.

This often dramatically impacts people's physical performances and life style, resulting in people weak soft voices and often vigorous activities will lead to short of breathless due to inability to meet the bodies demand of oxygen. Eg. A person may typically climb 6 stair cases with no problems, how ever with a blocked "air door" they may find them selves short of breath after their 3rd stairs.

Blockage of the "air door" is a very devastatingly common problem and very few people have the knowledge to diagnose it, most people will have it to a degree, however most of them are very minor and will never affect their lives. Diagnoses of it is usually done through palpation of the spine by hand. X rays and Ct scans can also used by their signs are so miniscule that most doctors will not be able to pin point it unless it is a total rupture.

It is how ever curable, and is a simple matter of reopening the "air door", which is manipulation of the vertebrates, and pushing the bulge back into place. This process of manipulation for a experienced Traditional Chinese Medicine Chiropractor is as simple as placing bandaid on a cut. However the knowledge on how to "open" it fully and safely do so are becoming exceedingly rare, as traditional mind set masters of this practice only pass their knowledge to a pupil and less and less youths are interested in learning. Another problem is also the amount of unqualified/scammer practices appearing every where causing people to be weary of TCM chiropractors. The number of people qualified to actually open the "air door" can be safely said that only roughly 1000 people in the billions of people found in china.