Hi guys. Just found this forum and thread via my daily morning google alert for all things 'Egoscue'. gotta love technology.

my name is Rick Mathes, I'm the clinic director of the Egoscue Clinic in Austin, TX. We're one of about 22 licensed Egoscue clinics around the world. I read through this thread and thought I'd pop on, introduce myself, and offer to answer any questions y'all might have about Egoscue as it relates to TOS. I want to make one thing very clear, I'm NOT here to try to promote Egoscue or sell you anything. It just looked like some of you might have questions I could help with, just trying to be of service.

The one question I'd encourage you to ask yourself if you haven't already is "why do I think I am experiencing these symptoms?" It's one thing to have a label of TOS, and I'm assuming that most of you have probably done a lot of research into the anatomy of the associated structures and what TOS means to the medical community, so I won't bore you with going through things you already know.

It's interesting that this thread landed in my email inbox this morning. Just had a client in this morning who has TOS. I've worked with several dozen such folks so I figured I'd just share some observations about Egoscue and TOS.

First, you all know that TOS is commonly thought to be a nerve impingement issue where space is lost in the brachial plexus, and a nerve that should have sufficient clearance to allow you to do whatever you want to do no longer has such clearance and now gets pinched, creating symptoms.

From my perspective, a posture with a rounded thoracic spine (mid back) and shoulders that are hinged forward are going to do nothing but diminish the space the nerves should have in which to operate. Postural compromise is NOT going to help people with TOS and in some cases could well be the primary cause for the TOS in the first place.

I've had clients where when we brought their bodies back to postural balance their symptoms completely resolved. And I've had others where the symptoms improved, but other issues needed to be addressed to get complete resolution. So I guess I view restoring postural integrity as absolutely necessary in helping folks with TOS, but it may not be sufficient in and of itself to completely resolve symptoms.

And as one person in this thread stated, you have to be careful about what demand to present to a TOS patient. I can have 3 folks with TOS in front of me and each of them may need very different exercises and levels of demand to effect postural change without increasing symptom. My client from this morning was in for her 4th visit. At her first visit I gave her two exercises in the clinic that she responded well to, but once she was doing them as part of her routine at home they increased her symptom. We had to listen to her body, learn from what it was telling us, and then adjust her routine accordingly. In her case, her shoulder blades didn't want to hinge properly so when I gave her an exercise asking for that function, it just created problems.

everyone is unique, every body has its own set of issues. You have all discovered that what is a magic bullet for one person may not do much for another. What I WOULD encourage you to do is have someone take photos of your posture. Wear shorts, no shoes, if you're a woman, wear a sports bra or swimsuit top. Then take photos front, back, left and right. Then compare them to what posture should look like. You can go to Egoscue.com, click on the "Method" link up top and you'll see some illustrations of what proper postural balance should look like. Compare that blueprint to what you see in your pictures. Assess your own posture and see what you see, then ask yourself if you think what you see in the pictures and how it differs from where your body should be could be causing some of what you experience as TOS. Then trust your instincts on how to proceed. Whether it's Egoscue or yoga or whatever, any kind of motion you can engage in that you can do without increasing symptom and that helps to pull your body closer to the blueprint is a VERY good thing.

Feel free to ask me any questions and I'll answer them to the best of my ability. I wish you all well on your healing journey.