Effect of a combined thoracic and backward lifting exercise on the thoracic kyphosis angle and intercostal muscle pain.
Won-Gyu Yoo
PMID 28878487WHAT IT FOUND
Intercostal pain score fell from 4/10 to 1/10 and thoracic kyphosis angle fell from 38° to 32° after 15 days of daily thoracic extension with backward lifting in one man.
This is a single case, not proof the exercise works.
Key findings
01The intercostal pain score fell from 4/10 to 1/10 after the exercise period.
02The thoracic kyphosis angle fell from 38° to 32° after the exercise period.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Only one 41-year-old man was treated, so the result cannot be generalised to other patients. This was a single case report, so it cannot compare treated and untreated outcomes. The exercise combined thoracic extension and backward lifting, so the contribution of either part alone cannot be separated. The paper reports only the initial and post-exercise measurements, so it does not show whether the change lasted.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this exercise reliably reduces intercostal pain or thoracic kyphosis angle. The improvement was seen in one 41-year-old man after 15 days. This was a single case report, not a trial.