1. Know your anatomy and how it functions and relates to the other anatomy in your body.
2. Know that there IS good pain as well as bad pain. Learn the difference. Not all pain is bad. Some pain can be worked and/or pushed for the better. In some circumstances it IS good to push yourself. In others it is not good. Know the difference. Do not assume that any pain is bad or cannot be pushed/worked.
3. Patience.
4. Slow and steady wins the race.
5. Each person's TOS is different. They may have some commonalities with your own, but be careful about applying one person's therapy to your own. Review #1 above.
6. Sometimes you will feel like something therapeutic merely aggravated your condition. It may NOT be for the worse but for the better. Sometimes/somethings are 2 steps forward and 1 step backward and that may be the only way to progress/heal with some situations.
7. Exercise IS important. Movement IS important. TOS is both a neurologic and in some instances a vascular as well as neurologic condition. In some instances the vascular anatomy is compressed causing symptoms...it may be that you can help that compression by movement to increase the circulation. Blood and the nutrients in it NEED to get to the muscles. Sometimes the pain is the muscle screaming for blood/nutrients. Know that this is a reality more than you might think. Rest is good, but the body NEEDS continuous circulation.
8. Strengthen muscles to help correct/improve your posture. I still believe that more of us would be helped more by this than with surgery. I'm willing to be alone in this belief but I know that I am not as there are MANY doctors and other medical professionals that complain that their patients want instant cure and believe that is achieved with surgery. Did I mention "patience." This is key. Recovery does take time. It can and will happen. The body once was in a state of no pain, no compression. Absent abnormalities like cervical ribs, you do have the ability to improve your own condition.
9. YOU are your best medical professional.
10. POSTURE. Improve it, or lose it. Strengthen the muscles to HOLD good posture and you can reduce any compression.
11. Consider and try things like: Yoga, stretching classes, aerobics, strength training, chiropractors, acupuncture, massage, physical therapy and other similar modalities. They all have something to offer and to help recover from TOS.
12. Do NOT put down someone's therapy. It may not be for you but it may help someone else. It may have been a key to the person posting about it. Do not assume that a post is "advocating" any particular therapy but merely SHARING information that helped that person and may help others.
13. Seriously review if you have tried everything possible before resorting to surgery. Surgery is very taxing on the body and quite invasive. In many instances it appears to have created more or other problems rather than give relief. In some instances it is the remedy necessary. I still firmly believe that it should be avoided unless all other measures, after good effort and patience, have failed.