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Old 03-14-2014, 01:45 AM
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Location: Orange County, CA
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Orange County, CA
Posts: 835
10 yr Member
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kyoun1e View Post
After a month of flailing around, making no progress, and considering taking a leave of absence from work, I ran into an applied kinesiologist, David Leaf, down in Plymouth, MA. He debunked the whole idea of TOS and just indicated that had serious strength imbalances and posture issues. I was given a regimen of tissue massage and strengthening exercises. Six weeks later, the pain is 100% gone, I have just a hint of tingling in my index finger, and my tricep strength has increased to 60% of the right side.

I will say that after I started doing David Leaf's exercises/massage, I did have a botox injection. I'm not convinced that this time around it had as much impact as previous. The trending in pain/symptoms had started to decrease prior to the botox injection and continued along the same trendline to the current date. It may have helped me on the margin, but didn't resolve the problem completely as it did before.

I communicate all this because I think you can get yourself out of this mess...assuming your anatomy hasn't been drastically altered by some kind of traumatic event (like a car crash, etc.). I have cervical ribs. I didn't have TOS when I was 20. It's only now that it has emerged most likely to do with postural issues (i.e. daily computer work), my favorite activity (weightlifting), and the fact that I'm 45 years old (and I tend to lie on the couch in odd positions vs. run around in the woods like a 12 year old with perfect posture).

If you're willing to endure some pain and be systematic in your approach, this can be licked.
I think you and your kinesiologist are spot on. Posture and muscle imbalances definitely aggravate TOS symptoms and can be corrected non-surgically if addressed in time. In addition, rib dysfunction (not just cervical and/or first ribs) can develop and must also be addressed with mobilization. Finding the right practitioners with the necessary skills is often a huge challenge as well. If these things are not corrected early enough (my case), extensive scar tissue can develop making the exercising and rib mobilization fruitless. I only started seeing results after having my 1st ribs removed and scarring cleaned up.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.
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Marc

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