thanks for your info mighty slug. the chi ball that you asked about is only 5inches in diameter it is made of the same plastic that those exercise balls are made of. it is able to be inflated, deflated by removing a small stopper which looks like a golf tee and blowing it up to your suit your requirements. here it costs about 15 australian dollars. i worked out that just over half inflated was the best size, then at the local $2 shop they were selling childrens small soccer and basketballs (from china) just the same size complete with a small pump. so i bought a couple of those, pumped them up to just over half full and now i use those. my point about the relief that i get from laying on the chi ball is. I think that the chiros and PTs have misinterpreted the reason that some people get an improvement in symptoms. i dont think it is because the pec minor is stretched or the thoracic spine is mobilized. I think that there are a significant number of other people like myself who have scapula instability and when they lay on the ball they allow the nerve to be decompromised which improves scapular stability. when i returned to light duties (making security products) i would make my shoulder worse and very uncomfortable. i would attend a pt (we call them physio) session and lay on the ball 5 or 10 mins and notice the difference. then i would do some exercises, for instance a theratube arm exercise and lose the scapular stability.
using the chi ball decompressed the nerve, having to stabilize the scapula compressed the nerve.

one of the things that i couldn't understand with this condition was whereas if i had hurt my lower back or knee or some other part of my body is if i rested it would eventually get better but with this condition rest usually made it worse. i had told my doctor that i was having a terrible time sleeping so he prescribed some sleeping tablets. they would cause me sleep through the night but my symptoms would be worse. it reminded me of when my first child was born, he was a spilling all the time and vomitting. he would keep my wife and i up all night. we hadnt had a decent nights sleep for 12 weeks. we took him to the paediatrician and he prescribed a sedative for him. i was not happy giving a small baby a sedative but you assume that the experts know what they are doing. we gave him the sedative and he gave us some peace for a while but he was not happy when he woke up. we had a visit from a CAFHS nurse to see how we were going with our new baby. we told her the problem. she said try some antacid medicine (mylanta) he slept like a baby. we had been giving him sedation so the acid could eat away at his oesophagus.

i think it is similar with TOS when you are sleeping you are making your problem worse. you are compromising nerves. this is why sleeping is so difficult. the things which make this condition persist and worsen are
1. laying on your shoulders and ribs
2. using your affected arm (stabilizing the scapula)
3. chest breathing

it is pretty difficult not to do all of these things

thats why just resting doesn't make you better

within the next couple of days i shall take some pictures of the things that have made my condition significantly better.

i am interested if anyone has had a problem where they have
a)bent to the ground to pick something up
b)sneezed
and had the weirdest and scary sensation in their thoracic spine which feels as though their spine has opened up? when i was at my worst it happened at least ten times, once when the pt had her hand exactly where the clunk happened, i read of another TOS sufferer who described it. i will find the link for it tomorrow best wishes