Ninth Thoracic Vertebra

There is a form of pain that cannot be localised. Not because the location is unclear — the ninth thoracic vertebra makes itself known clearly enough. But because what lies behind it is as diffuse as the fog before a window you have not looked out of for a long time.

The ninth thoracic vertebra sits in the middle of your back, where the spine holds the transition between stability and mobility. Medically, this area supplies organs connected to digestion and the adrenal glands — that is, with processing and stress response. When complaints arise here, there is almost always an orthopaedic or neurological explanation. But there is also a level that reaches deeper.