Question about symptoms
 

I am still learning about TOS and was just wondering about symptoms. My symptoms never go away. I wake up with pain in the arms/elbow area every morning. I keep reading about how different arm maneuvers such as raising arms above the head cause symptoms to appear or worsen, but what if your symptoms are always there? Does anyone experience constant pain that doesn;t worsen with the types of arm movements they discuss? Just trying to learn more about a complicated Diagnosis. Still afraid the dx is wrong but I have been to too many dr.s who fine nothing. Hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend!

My symptoms moved around , my elbows were/sore/hyper sensitive for a month or 2 , then it was my forearms/wrist, then thumb for a short time, finally it settled mostly in my neck & upperback muscles.

Are you doing anything to treat the elbow pain?
checking for triggerpoints that can refer pain to the elbow this clickable chart is very helpful for that -
http://www.pressurepointer.com/pain_reference_chart.htm
heat/cold contrast
elbow compression straps
posture - to see if that helps make a difference
nerve glides - in the useful sticky thread - maybe post # 18-20??

If you have someone to give some arm & upperback massage- that might help too - probably a myofascial release type not just a surface massage type. how to videos can be found online

I will look into the nerve glides. You seem very knowledgeable about TOS. What type of Dr. gave you a DX and did you have positive test results?

Long story due to work comp - didn't get much help from MDs as my sx kept moving around.

Had best luck w/ skilled & expert chiropractor & some advanced very good PTs.
chiro & 2 PTs dx'd TOS but no MD would commit to it.
Cervico-thoracic spine strain w/ arm pain - was what one MD wrote.:rolleyes:
That MD didn't even do any of the basic positional tests - his adv PT guy did it tho and he agreed w/TOS.

I think I was very lucky to be able to be off work and finally stumble upon that really good chiro.
ENG/NCV neg
MRI- minor c 4/5/6 spurs all else OK
the positional blood flow tests - yes- pulse stopped when arms raised out & up
EAST test -hands turned white and lost coordination at about 30 seconds

but a small % of normals will have the blood flow stop too, so that alone is not conclusive.
But add in all the other stuff ....

Some have mild/moderate cases of TOS and unfortunately some have very severe cases of it.

How much regular time are you committing to things like:
-- postural exercises
-- appropriate stretches
-- walking
-- meditating
-- reading and research
-- expert care (chiro, PT) etc.
?

For those of us with RSI-induced TOS, we've been cooking up our problems for years. If you go the conservative route, a real investment is required to reverse that.

This stuff is still fairly new to me and I'm still learning a lot from both research and listening to my own body as I try things out. I'm at about 20 hours per week. The time commitment sucks, but (a) I don't see how I have much choice and (b) I want to be better sooner rather than later.