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It's unfortunate that your chiropractor has not been more forthcoming in terms of patient education on topics like spinal rehabilitation, mobility exercises, indentification of weak vs. tight muscle groups, ect. but also your physical therapist? That's, like, what a physical therapist is supposed to be good at. Maybe you can look into options nearby but off base that would be willing to spend more time with you. A quick Google search may help find a chiropractor with a wider variety of services.

If you have the option to do this, here are some protocols that my help you which a provider may advertise on their website: selective functional movement assessment (SFMA), functional movement screening (FMS), myofascial release; instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM/Graston); functional rehab; kinesiotaping (RockTape or KT); McKenzie mechanical diagnosis and therapy (MDT); and Active Release Technique (ART). Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head that may relate to you. However, I will say that without a thorough history & examination I can only guess at what may be appropriate for you and this is in no way an accurate guaranteed solution to your problem.

Lastly, if your primary issue is that you are tight, spinal movement is restricted, your posture has been identified as poor and you are seriously interested in putting the time into fixing yourself, I will rattle off some techniques and resources that may help you get an idea of where to focus your attention. Since you have identified your thoracic spine as the primary region for which you seek treatment it is important to understand what is normal and then compare yourself against that (with an exam). Normal T-Spine range of motion (active or passive) goes something like, flexion; 50-70 degrees, extension; 20-30 degrees, lateral flexion; 25-35 degrees, and rotation; 40-55 degrees. So when doing exercises you have to make sure you are working through each and every plane of movement as well as stretching/releasing the muscle groups that activate motion respectively. That's some Google searching and light reading that you can do on your own.

Finally, here are some exercises you can add to focus on mobility. If you do not have a foam roll, get one. Exercise bands help too but the foam roll is numero uno. Something inexpensive like this roller as an example will do just fine. Exercises that focus on rotation & extension such as quadriped thoracic extension and thoracic windmill and the modified reverse fly and band resisted thoracic extension are just a few examples of exercises work well for covering the rotational component of thoracic movement. The Foam Roll Thoracic Extension is definitely a cornerstone movement for thoracic mobility. Lastly, a common occurrence in patients with postural and thoracic mobility/pain issues is that breathing patterns and diaphragmatic muscle activation is less than optimal. For this area, your yoga is a great tool for retraining breathing patterns to be functionally sound. A quick exercise that incorporates breathing and postural correction is the Brugger exercise as an example of this important part of thoracic mobility and postural rehabilitation.

Everything I have presented here is to present ideas of what types of exercises may help you if your condition is primarily musculoskeletal in nature. Your past medical history and instructions given to you directly by your primary care physician, physical therapist, chiropractor, physiatrist or orthopedic specialist that you have had direct contact with is going to be the law, as they have had the time for a proper exam. That said, no one component alone is going to fix you. Incorporating healthy lifestyle components like good nutrition, proper hydration, adaquate sleep, regular chiropractic corrective adjustments and stress reduction is just as important as anything else I've presented here. In closing, as questions. If you have questions that your doctor's won't answer for you, fire them. If you have to go elsewhere, go. If you have to pay out of pocket for care you need because your insurance doesn't cover what actually helps you then that's something you have to come to terms with. Everyone wants the best of the best until they have to pay for it. A good practitioner of physical medicine that will spend the time with you to teach you to do as much as you can independently so as to correct the cause of the problem instead of just treating symptoms can save you a lot of time, aggravation, pain and need for medical intervention later in life if you follow through with their instructions. I hope something I have presented here helps you. When your buddies have similar problems, share the information that helped you get through it. Knowledge exists to be shared for the benefit of everyone, not hoarded behind a pay wall. However, health care providers spend a lot of time learning techniques and information to help heal those in need and those skills are worth the cost of changing lives, eliminating pain, giving people their lives, their health, and their mobility back to people who forgot what it was like to function as a normal human should from a biomechanical/kinematic perspective. Good luck and thank you for your service.

I don't agree with your dad preventing you from playing a sport you want to play. However, his concerns are legitimate - concussions are common in football and multiple concussions can have serious long term negative effects.

Perhaps the best thing you can do is learn about the risks of concussion and how it can effect your chances of keeping good grades and playing professionally in the future. Then you can talk with your parents about the pros and cons and explain that you understand the risks.

This recent article showed that over 80% of professional football players had degenerative brain disease. Perhaps certain positions are less likely to get concussions, such as kickers.

Have you read the book or watched the movie Concussion with Will Smith? Might be good for you to get an idea of the effects of concussion.

Also, watch this short YouTube video about concussions.

(**And I think you meant "gist"…)

I used this one after my ACL surgery :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reusable-Shoulder-Injury-Compress-Sleeve/dp/B00DJ6BISU/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1406406623&sr=1-2-catcorr&keywords=ice+pack+knee

I don't know if you're in the uk or not but i'm sure there's a similar one wherever you are. Currently 2 months out doing physio everyday, i still use it now!

Edit: Doesn't stay freezing very long probably around 20 minutes at the most, freezes quite fast too