# Upper thorasic pathological crush fractures **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 17, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upper-thorasic-pathological-crush-fractures/456784 "2008-07-17T01:55:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upper-thorasic-pathological-crush-fractures/456784/1 "2008-07-17T01:55:23Z")
G’day Dopers. I am not looking for medical advice. I am under the care of a doctor yadda yadda. Just wondering if anyone has had experience with crush fractures in their spine. a bit of background info: I’m 35. Whilst I’m a vegetarian I do consume quite a bit of dairy food. I have never ever broken a bone. The pain started while I was sitting at my computer. It is all a bit WTF for both me and my doctor so Im in the process of having lots of tests. I will be tested for osteoporosis on Friday. So folks have you ever had a crush fracture - please share your experience. Also anyone have experience of norspan patches? MRW ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upper-thorasic-pathological-crush-fractures/456784/2 "2008-07-17T02:51:22Z")
Did the doctor say he suspected a “crush fracture”? I’ve never heard that term and a very brief web search didn’t find it. I assume that a “crush” fracture results from some kind of impact on the spine. I fell hard on my tail bone many years ago, and soon after experienced severe pain in my lower back. After basic x-rays were inconclusive and conservative measures (physical therapy, meds) didn’t help, doctor put me in the hospital. CAT scan and bone scan also were inconclusive, but the last test – a myelogram – is what showed the herniated disk in my lumbar spine. Try to recall if you’ve had an accident of any kind that could have affected your spine. Bottom line: it’ll take you doctor and x-rays to pin it down. ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upper-thorasic-pathological-crush-fractures/456784/3 "2008-07-17T05:01:51Z")
Yep Xrays pinned it down. I think she also used the term compression fractures. The way she explained it was something like when little old ladies sat down and thier bones - weakened by osteoporosis - crumbled. I’m now interest to find out if i’m shorter than I was. ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upper-thorasic-pathological-crush-fractures/456784/4 "2008-07-17T05:06:41Z")
I just had a look with google myself using the exact wording on my referal form [http://tinyurl.com/5rwsly](http://tinyurl.com/5rwsly) [http://tinyurl.com/6l9ua6](http://tinyurl.com/6l9ua6) ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upper-thorasic-pathological-crush-fractures/456784/5 "2008-07-17T16:21:26Z")
[QUOTE=madrabbitwoman] Yep Xrays pinned it down. I think she also used the term compression fractures. The way she explained it was something like when little old ladies sat down and thier bones - weakened by osteoporosis - crumbled. I’m now interest to find out if i’m shorter than I was. [/QUOTE] ‘Compression fracture’ is probably the more commonly-used term. As noted [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=456226) , my 11-year-old had such a fracture last February, as a result of a fall. Though I gather these sort of fractures are more commonly a sign of some sort of osteoporosis or other disease process, in her case it was simply the fall hitting something just right (or, just wrong, I guess!). My guess is that your docs will want to try to find out what led to this happening - again, osteo or other disease - and treat _that_ to prevent it from happening again. In my daughter’s case, she bounced back very, very quickly. As in, 3 days later in nearly no pain at all. Clearly her fracture was fairly minor. Forgot to mention: Once the problem was diagnosed, they didn’t do anything. No need to immobilize, no other treatment, they basically said slightly reduced activities for a bit. I know there are more invasive treatments (e.g. filling in the pores in the bones with some sort of cement), which obviously also carry some risk; I don’t know what the deciding criteria are for doing additional treament. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upper-thorasic-pathological-crush-fractures/456784/6 "2008-07-17T16:36:49Z")
[QUOTE=Sycorax] Did the doctor say he suspected a “crush fracture”? I’ve never heard that term and a very brief web search didn’t find it. I assume that a “crush” fracture results from some kind of impact on the spine. [/QUOTE] I see a lot of chiro records which substitute “crush fracture” for “compression fracture”.