Physical therapy bad for arterial TOS
 

I want to share my experience with physical therapy and arterial TOS.

I did PT for 6 months after my diagnosis of NTOS. I never had an angiogram or Doppler test and was unaware I had severe compression of arteries and veins. Just because I had pain my dr automatically assumed it was NTOS.

PT is a very bad idea is you have serious circulation issues. So make sure you know exactly what kind of TOS you have before you jump into PT as it can make you worse. That's probably why a lot of PT "doesn't work". Because it's unnecessary.

thanks
 

Thanks for this info. I have been recommended PT, and I am told I have ATOS + NTOS. Just taking time off work and rest has alleviated most of the nerve symptoms, but the arterial, like hands changing to red + blotchy, pulse changes, etc. that doesn't seem to be changing. I figured PT wouldn't hurt...maybe they could just loosen those muscles and break up any fascia so after surgery I wouldn't have such a hard time. I guess maybe I shouldn't??

My dr does not recommend PT for arterial TOS at all, before or after surgery. If your symptoms subsided with rest, maybe you don't even have NTOS but arterial only. I was told the same for a whole year and I don't have NTOS. I have arterial and venous. That can cause A LOT of pain.

I did pt for ten years. I don't think PT can fix ATOS.

My thoughts on PT is that it can be good or it can be bad..

depends on the therapist.
depends on what your cause or symptoms are.
depends on If the PT does an assessment at beginning of each session, to see how you are doing, if anything got worse or better.
good ones will adjust the "plan" to address issues that arise, by backing off you have increase in pain and only moving forward after no increase in pain or symptoms.

Posture needs to be addressed too. The worse it is the longer it will take to see improvements..

*The standard "cookie cutter" PT plan of pushing most of us into strengthening right away is not good at all.*
We used to have so many posts about the generic PT plans- they might work Ok for people with strains or c spine issues, but not for TOS.

If you are in pain, then pain reliving modalities need to be used first, until pain is way down. Any trigger points need to be resolved also.
And top rib mobilization if applicable. I suffered for months before anyone thought to check mine..


If you have severe clear cut NTOS, PT most likely can't help that much because something is directly impinging/compressing on the nerve somewhere.

How does one distinguish between the different types of TOS
 

Symptoms like tingling etc seem to be common across all types when going by Dr Thompons site. And, Collins pretty much says if you have TOS, then its ATOS,VTOS since nerves go on top of Arteries and Veins, for nutrients.

Did you try deep tissue massage or extended massage therapy to break up adhesions, loosen the muscles?

I've easily spent $10,000 on massages over the past ten years.

That's the misfortune of misdiagnosis...ATOS and VTOS can not be fixed by anything but surgery. And even then if the part of the rib that is causing the problem is not removed, you can still have issues.

I think there are severe cases as well as moderate & and mild cases of TOS be it A-V-or NTOS or a mix of all.

TOS rarely starts out as severe right from the start of it.

In the mild ,moderate or early stages that is when quality PT, self care, and other things can be most helpful.
Often after surgery some kind of therapy is still needed.

I just don't want future readers to see a blanket statement and think their only option is surgery when it may not be the case for them and their version TOS.

Sometimes dr say a blanket statement , but don't really think of how it may or may not apply to everyone else at the time.
He probably meant it for your case of TOS.

If there is an anatomical anomaly that is found then most likely surgery is needed for something like that.