Symptoms of kyphosis vary depending on its cause, severity, and where it is in the spine.
Although kyphosis is most common in the thoracic spine, or mid-back, it can also form in the cervical spine (neck) and lumbar (low back).
Some symptoms of kyphosis are:
- A visible hump on the back
- Back pain, ranging from mild to severe, especially as the body compensates for the excessive bend
- Chest pain and heart failure
- Fatigue
- Loss of bladder and bowel control, from nerve damage
- Nerve impingement that leads to weakness or numbness in the legs
- Rounded shoulders
- Shortness of breath or other breathing difficulties from compression of the lungs
- Spine stiffness
- Tight hamstrings (the muscles in the back of the thigh)
- Weakness, tingling, or loss of sensation in other areas of the body, depending on which nerves are impinged
A person with kyphosis in the cervical spine may also have:
- Limited neck rotation
- Neck pain, ranging from mild to severe
- Visual shape changes in the neck, from mild to extreme deformity
Reviewed by: Kai-Ming Fu, MD, PhD
Last reviewed/last updated: August 2021
Our Care Team
- Hansen-MacDonald Professor of Neurological Surgery
- Director of Spinal Surgery
Phone: 212-746-2152
- Orthopedic Surgeon
- Director, Orthopedic Spine Surgery
Phone: 212-746-1164
- Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery, Spinal Surgery
- Co-Director, Spinal Deformity and Scoliosis Program
- Chief of Neurological Surgery, NYP Lower Manhattan
Phone: 212-746-2260
- Clinical Associate Professor of Neurosurgery
- Attending Neurosurgeon
Phone: 888-922-2257
- Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery
Phone: 646-962-3388
- Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery, Spine Surgery
Phone: 718-670-1837 (Queens) / 888-922-2257 (Manhattan)
- Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery
Phone: 866-426-7787 (Manhattan) / 646-967-2020 (Brooklyn)
- Assistant Professor of Radiology in Neurological Surgery (Manhattan and Queens)
Phone: 212-746-2821 (Manhattan) or 718-303-3739 (Queens)