Originally Posted by chroma

Here is my list so far. These have helped me:

-- elevating my symptomatic arm (left side) in order to open up the space between the collar bone and first rib

-- not letting my arms swing when I walk. centripetal force pulls the shoulder and therefore collar bone down. I make light fists and rest them on the top of my pockets, transferring the weight of the arms into the legs.

-- daily walking for its numerous benefits (cardio, energy, mental lift, sunshine, fresh air, etc.)

-- fixing my posture during the day

-- doing brugger relief position throughout the day

-- following the Egoscue Pain Free exercises

-- learning more about posture with "Posture: Get It Straight" DVD

-- learning more about anatomy especially re: the shoulder, scapulas, traps, necks, etc.

-- seeing a chiro who also knows myofascial release and first rib adjustment

-- meditation specifically aimed at noting specific tensions and releasing them on exhalation

-- stretches, but I waited til I made some progress, got the first mobilized by the chiro and learned to do it myself with a strap. stretching for TOS is tricky.

-- putting a cold pack above the collar bone for 15 mins on, 15 mins off and then 15 mins back on. reduces inflammation and has a mild, positive effect for me. nice to do after any postural exercises, stretches or rib mobilization to counter inflammation those might cause.

-- deep reading of this board

-- budgeting time every day to work on the above

-- listening to my body and making adjustments as soon as I get a "signal" that something is wrong. I posted about this recently.


Things that have resolved or improved substantially:

-- no more numb and/or cold forearm

-- pain in the inner forearm by elbow is less frequent and less severe

-- pain in the shoulder is absent most days and very minor others. same with pec minor

-- no more chest pains and sternal squeezing (I had strong vascular problems--my circulation would "back up")

-- much improved sleep; don't wake up with symptoms as often

-- can work more hours as a result


Things that I'm still struggling with:

-- lightheadedness aka dizziness

-- chronic neck tension (improved but still bad)

-- my chiro says I still have a skull+neck misalignment which is the cause of the above

-- I drop into "neck forward / shoulders forward" posture all the time. I correct it, but the correction does not (yet) naturally hold.


Things that didn't help me:

-- non-specific meditation

-- moving qigong / chi kung. that just aggravated my condition with all the arm movements. I hope to return to it when I'm better.

-- resting. at least until I found that I needed to elevate my shoulder girdle, resting was a crap shoot as to whether I would feel better or worse.

-- emergency room. they had no clue.

-- cardiologist. wrong type of doctor. and he wasn't clueful enough to refer me to a vascular specialist.

-- supplements. based on studies I'm sure they're good for us long term, and if you have a very specific problem, this could be a key. but no supplement I took had a noticeable impact.

-- deep tissue massage


Useful ideas I didn't list as helpful, because I haven't tried them at all or enough to comment:

-- sternal positional swiss ball stretch (I'm about to start this now that I've opened up some from brugger.)

-- Edgelow protocol (I got this, but have barely gotten into it.)

-- trigger point therapy by a pro or self administered (also looking into this)

-- osteopathic manipulation

-- active release technique (I'm seriously thinking of doing this for my neck)

-- Feldenkrais, Alexander, etc.

-- acupuncture


I hope that helps someone!

Symptoms and solutions vary between TOS sufferers so don't mistake my list for an authoritative one. You'll have to find the combo you need.

One observation is that there are so many things to try that it takes awhile just to get to them all, which is cause for hope because there are more things yet to try!

If you don't know what something above means, search for it on this forum, google and youtube, and you'll get some nice reading material (and possibly viewing as well). :-)