13 Months Later... 100% cured back to Gym and normal life
 

HI,

Just thoguht id write in to let people know that i have made a full recovery and my days are now symptom and pain free :) Its been this way for the past 4 months now and i know its not coming back.

I have resumed my gym activities like before and everything is going sweet.

Thought id jsut post this to let people know that TOS isnt a life time curse like i thought it was and alot of people on this thread seem to think it is.

How did you get to this point? PT? Surgery? How long ago?

All cases of TOS are not the same so some details of yours would be helpful.

PT for about 13 - 14 months in total

For me it was a matter of getting the serratus anterior to start activating again and the Lower trap. Once i got that down part symptoms and pain starting dissapearing fast.

Also , once the nerves are stirred up and Damaged it can take up to 12 months for them to heal depending on how bad the damage is , so thats why the pain remains for so long.

Wow, that's awesome! It's good to hear a success story once in awhile. Especially when you didn't require surgery.

what kind of PT and how did you find the PT?

what kind of doctor or anyone else did you go to?

what were you experiencing symptoms?

thank you!

Please share how you got the serratus ant and lower traps working properly. Thanks.

I'm so glad you've gotten relief! It's wonderful to hear stories of successful outcomes.

This is great to hear. I too am having about 70 percent relief due to physical therapy in all my shoulder and upper back muscles. Now I have to concentrate on my nerve issues in my arm and hand. Also strengthening, and preventing recurrance and going back to work are my goals. Even being on the computer for a few minutes exacerbates my symptoms.

After a year of trying many pts and injections and chiro and acupunture, The trick was Rib and joint mobilization to get my first rib to stay down by Dr. Ando. andoastonphysicaltherapy.com.They also do soft tissue mobilization and I have to do the stretching and strengthening everyday.

Hello, 100 percent is amazing- Please share what worked for you

Well it wasnt Just one thing that did it, It was a very pain staking and long process that took 14 months as i said.

I am lucky enough that i found PTs that actually know wat there talking about.

I live in australia though so if ur in america which i assume most of u are, o cant help you to mcuh

Even though your from Australia, please share! My PT is gone for the rest of the summer traveling and I'm being sent to a PT who specializes in some "Australian Method" in her absence. I'd be interested to know what type of things you did.

this is reassuring because i have zero lower traps and s.as :):)

ive been doing downward cable rows and serratus punches every day with resistance bands.

hellothere,
can you please post exactly what you did? please.

you have not told us anything yet.

thank you
mark

jkl626, is that myofacial?

http://www.fitnesseducationseminars....trategies-book

i bought this guys book.

its all about shoulder mechanics. the exercises look HARD. so maybe itd be good for someone who's recovering and looking to strengthen their shoulder

Hard to desrcibe wat i did as i said it was a prcoess that took months and months, it wasnt just one thing that did it.

Without the guidance of a skilled and helpful PT i could not have done it.

serratus pushups and lower trap activation before working out was something that helped me alot though , especailly lower trap activation

Hey Hellothere, I'm in NSW and seeing a physio, have TOS symptoms struggling to get the correct muscles activating.

Scapula is mildly winging, were you getting PT in Sydney by any chance?

So good to know you are feeling so good. So happy for you and thanks for posting, specially about what is helping you. :) Have you been told to keep up some of the exercises pretty much throughout your life?

Hi Hello There,

That is great, congratulations that you are no longer having symptoms of TOS!! Since you did P.T. for 14 months with a skilled therapist, you must be very familiar with the specific exercise!

Could you describe "lower trap activation"~ what kind of movement did you do?

Thank you!

I have heard some doctors say that neurogenic TOS can resolve with rest and "appropriate physical therapy". I had p.t. for TOS with a special program called the Edgelow Protocol and it was mostly special breathing training, lying on my back with my knees up and doing pelvic tilts training my diaphragm to relax. Even now if I have a flare up I can get in that position and do pelvic tilt breathing and it helps. Somehow it makes the sympathetic nerves relax.

Hello there if you could email me the details of your physio I would really appreciate it. *edit*
Even if they are not in my area perhaps they can recommend someone who has experience in this area.

*edit*
Cheers.

I may be able to shed some light on this one. One of my many surgeries was a rhomboid muscle and lower trap reattachment by a doctor named Ben Kibler. You can google him but he is considered a guru on the scapula. Doctors at Mayo, Cleveland etc. all know and learn from him. Anyway, activating the lower trap is essential to getting the scapula moving correctly but it is a difficult muscle to train. I do remember one specific exercise that I will try to explain.

Stand beside a kitchen table or something a little lower where your affected side is beside the table. Your arm is hanging on your side with palm facing backward. Your hand then pushes the table with an open faced hand but try to push from the lower trap versus your arm. You really have to try it and feel it in the low trap to understand what I mean. I think the exercise is called a low row or something like that.

Hope that helps.

ill just put a warning out

anyone with pec minor issues (might..aka probably will!!) have major problems doing pushups, including serratus pushups.

you can try it with a pt, but with me, i did this and even then!! could not do these. pushing is very irritating for me

Good for you being proactive in getting help to feel better!

If you don’t mind me asking, what are your pec minor issues? I just started PT and was told that I have tight pec minors but pushups are not a problem for me – probably because I have to do them in the Navy (but I don’t like doing them!).

I was wondering how you are doing today, @hellothere. Were you ever able to return to a computer job? Is the pain gone? Do you do any maintenance?

I realize this is a bit of a necro-thread. Its very difficult to find PT success stories. I followed your forum history and so much of what you went through seems similar to my situation (computer job, elongated transverse processes, pain in shoulder, hand, elbow. Winging in scapula). If you see this, it would be neat if you could reply, even if its months later.