Anatom3DNucleus pulposus T4-T5
Nucleus pulposus T IV–T V · Rosolovité jádro ploténky Th4–Th5
Joints & cartilage
Looks like
The soft, gel-like core of the disc between T4 and T5 in the chest, sitting slightly behind the disc's centre inside a ring of tough fibres.
What it does
Mostly water held in a gel; it spreads load evenly across the vertebrae and acts as the pivot on which this level bends.
Keeping it well
Thoracic disc ruptures are rare because the ribs brace this part; when one presses on the spinal cord it causes leg weakness and needs urgent MRI.
Related conditions
- Axial spondyloarthritis
- Bone metastases and spinal cord compression
- Cauda equina syndrome
- Gout
- Haemophilia & bleeding disorders
- Herniated disc
- Lyme disease
- Marfan syndrome & connective tissue disorders
- Neck pain and cervical spondylosis
- Non-specific low back pain
- Osteoarthritis
- Psoriatic arthritis
- Rheumatic fever & rheumatic heart disease
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Sciatica
- Scoliosis
- Spina bifida & neural tube defects
- Spinal cord injury
- Systemic lupus erythematosus
- Temporomandibular joint disorder