Help Sorting New Symptoms Out
 

My symptoms have been mild for a while. Traditionally, I've had burning/pinching pain on the outter scap and in the armpit area. At its worst, my pain extends down the elbow with the last two digits effected.

Pretty standard TOS symptoms.

Now, as of about a week ago, some new symptoms emerged and I can't decide if this is TOS related or something else. I have a radiating pain that runs down the outer part of my shoulder, arm, and the forearm. Basically, this outer radiating pain is the opposite of my traditional TOS symptoms that run more inside the armpit and inside of the arm.

The only thing that has changed recently: I have been rehabing some shoulder tendonitis fairly aggressively and I've been travelling a lot too. So, lot of new physical and postural stress.

Still, these new symptoms seem like it could be more of a cervical neck issue or mechanical issue in the neck/trap/shoulder area.

Or, has anyone else seen their symptoms just completely change after a long time?

Really hoping TOS hasn't thrown me a curveball here. I'd rather see something new and different...if that makes any sense.

Thanks.

KY

Yes, my symptoms changed all throughout the seven year course I have had it. Pain going over the shoulder and down the outside of the is definitely TOS possiblity. MY symptoms waxed and waned and cropped up in new ways all the time. During the good weeks I would think I didn't surgery, but it would change and I'd be back in the cycle. I remember when my TOS first began the pain was more varied and all over the place too. Also of note is that when I started doing shoulder exercises, the pain across the outside of my arm worsened. I found out the hard way that therapists who say NOT to work out arms when you have TOS are absolutely correct.

Sorry your having this new stuff. Good news is, if it's all TOS related, then you know exactly who the enemy is.

You'll want to check with a PT, chiro or doctor, of course, but I believe what this means is that you're compressing a different nerve. There is the radial, the median and the ulnar nerves that innervate specific parts of the arm. IIRC the ulnar is the inside one. If you research them on google and google image search, you'll get more info.

So my interpretation is that your nerve compression has changed under the new shoulder exercises.

Yeah, I think you're right. Something changed with the rehab exercises. Maybe I've created some new muscle tension or imbalance.

Considering the nature of these rehab exercises, I don't think they would put any new or different stress on the thoracic outlet area. We're talking side laterals and side lying abduction with light weights. Although frequent.

So far, there's been no relief with stretching, icing, or heat. Oddly enough, I only get relief when I'm MOVING or exercising. At rest, it's the worst.

Going to see a manual orthopedica therapist tmrw. I hope he has answers.

Thanks.

KY

My interpretation of that is that during rest, there is not enough circulation to the arms.

I just finished reading "It's Not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome" and they identify chronic muscle tension as a problem that can reduce circulation and cause the kind of pain you are describing. I would say hypertrophy could do the same thing as well.

Can you at least reduce your rehab exercises? Maybe cut the reps in half and the weight in half?

Also, I catch myself tensing my shoulders way too much either in response to minor amounts of stress, or poor sitting posture. I have to monitor myself constantly. I hope someday, relaxation and good posture become my norm, but for now I have to recheck myself throughout the day.

Good luck.

That makes two of us.

I'm actually going for some accupuncture and have a session with a massage therapist tmrw. Maybe that can help with the muscle tension.

What's a bummer is that once I lick this I have to sit in a plane to London for 6+ hours. This type of thing always bunches me up all over again.

KY

Yeah, planes suck. There are some youtube vids of stretches you can do in a plane seat you might want to breeze through.

Well, met with my orthopedic therapist and he thinks I've re-aggravated a different trunk of the brachial plexus. Thus, the new symptoms down the outside part of the arm and forearm.

Didn't see any sign of a cervical neck issue although aggravating that area, plus rehabbing supraspinatis tendonitis, holidays, work travel, work stress/postural stress may have all combined to bring me to where I am now.

He suggested I amp up the anti-inflammatories and let it settle down.

Hope it's as simple as that. It usually isn't.

I do tend to get these kinds of serious flare ups once every 4 months. And in between I think TOS is gone.

KY

I'm all for the those types of treatments if you find them helpful, but I just wanted to point out that we also need to change ourselves from the inside out. It's the brain and the CNS that are generating the stress.

I haven't read this book yet, but plan to as the description caught my attention:

The Open Focus Brain

"This breakthrough book presents a disarmingly simple idea: The way we pay attention in daily life can play a critical role in our health and well-being. According to Dr. Les Fehmi, a clinical psychologist and researcher, many of us have become stuck in “narrow-focus attention”: a tense, constricted, survival mode of attention that holds us in a state of chronic stress—and which lies at the root of common ailments including anxiety, depression, ADD, stress-related migraines, and more. To improve these conditions, Dr. Fehmi explains that we must learn to return to a relaxed, diffuse, and creative form of attention, which he calls “Open Focus.”"

It's well reviewed:

http://www.amazon.com/Open-Focus-Bra...7172611&sr=1-1

If anyone reads it first, please share your thoughts.

Some people on these forums would kill to trade places with you. :D

But I do hope you make a full recovery!