hi everyone, please excuse me if i am doing this the wrong way i am not very computer literate and i have just spent 5 mins working out how to continue my story. i am assuming that this will continue on from the last episode that i wrote. in essence what i am trying to do is to ask people to consider their condition in different terms to what the medical profession use. if you go to a doctor and describe your symptoms.they may diagnose you with TOS.they will then stop listening to what you are saying and prescribe a bucket load of drugs, a physiotherapy programme that probably will make you worse and send you to a neurosurgeon who doesnt believe that TOS exists but is quite willing to perform some other invasive procedure to prove that is nerve root irritation that is the source of your problems. or if you are really lucky a neurosurgeon who believes TOS exists but tells you that surgery for TOS is only successful for 30 percent of those who have it. if anyone has heard of a person who has recovered from TOS can you ask them to list what they did to get better. my TOS began with pain in my upper back that made my neck very stiff and in the process my right arm felt so heavy that i was unable to lift things comfortably out in front of my body. not one doctor's report described the circumstances of my weak r arm as i had told them. i believe the way that my arm feels heavy is of great significance in trying to understand what is actually happening to cause TOS.
TOS sufferers often describe their symptoms worsening when they brush their hair or vacuuming the carpet, or carrying the shopping bags or reading the newspaper.
the medical practitioners use provocative tests such as costoclavicular test, the hyperabduction test which require the patient to hold the arms in the air or pull their shoulders back (stand to attention)
the manoevres which cause the TOS sufferer to a) have their hand, arm symptoms and muscle spasms in their sholders become worse are those manoevres which involve stabilizing ones scapula.
if one of the muscles that sabilize the scapula is not working correctly then other muscles tend to compensate for the weak muscle. it is my opnion that it is the compensatory muscles (pectoralis minor and rhomboids) which cause the problems of TOS (pectoralis minor syndrome) and myofacial pain of the erector spinae (T4 syndrome). got to go see you later.