Question
hi, thank you for your time,  i had surgery when i was 34 now 55, i had t5-l1 fused and rods on both sides of spine, still there . this was for a right idiopathic thoracic curve.

i do have backackes, headackes shoulder ackes and my right collar bone gets inflamed now and than
concern is the chest pain and all day ack,

heart has been checked says its good so is this dull chest acke coming from my back /spine surgery.
sometimes my back hurts with the dull chest ack sometimes just feels like my chest can't tell.
whats your thoughts thank you again. Barbara

Answer
Barbara,

Thank you for your question.  

The big question here is what happened at age 34 that required you to have rods placed into your thoracic spine?  A right idiopathic thoracic curve as the term implies, idiopathic means unknown but really spinal curves don't shift left or right without some sort of CAUSE.  I would very strongly suspect you have had some sort of injury and if you are like the average person it would have been as a teenager.  

Most spinal fusion surgeries will fuse the spine as is NOT taking into account normal spinal biomechanics.   

The continued headaches, shoulder ache, and back ache are all common symptoms due to an unbalanced spine that unfortunately is now fused.  Also keep in mind that the spinal joints above and below the spinal fusion will deteriorate at an accelerated rate.  The fusion begins at about t5 as you mentioned, degeneration in this area would very likely cause referral pain to the chest.

Hope this helps,

Dr. Blom