7 Year Post Op - New Shoulder Problems
 

I had a first rib resection in 07. Helped with many of my symptoms, always had lingering pain. I now have major shoulder pain that is being contributed to tendon "problems", subacromial impingement, fluid in the bicep tendon sheath and displacement of fluid in the AC joint on top of TOS symptoms which are appearing in my lower arm (numbness, pain, some swelling). My shoulder has migrated forward significantly making my posture awful.

I've done 6 months of PT with limited success. My surgeon is no longer practicing, my family doctor has no clue and I'm lost. Any thoughts. My searches keep leading me to pec minor syndrome but not sure if I'm grasping at straws.

Pec minor sounds quite possible in your case. I had tos surgery 1 yr ago, at 6 mos postop started w worsening shoulder, scapula, arm and hand pain & numbness. I always feel like my shoulder is pulled forward and out of place compared to other side. I recently saw my surgeon and he agreed my shoulder looked to far forward.
He says I have Pec minor and wants to do Pec minor tenonomy (sp?)
I read Pec m syndrome can cause shoulder impingement (it decreases the space between acromian & cocoroid (sp) bones and can cause bursitis. I had shoulder surgery for this 3 yrs bf my tos surgery and now I need Pec m surgery. Go figure!

Interesting! My shoulder definitely sits forward, it's very noticeable. I have a diagnosis of bursitis as far back as 3+ years ago (by MRI and US). I've had tight pecs since after surgery. My muscles are very imbalanced now, have a lot of atrophy in the superspanius (sp?), etc. What type of surgeon did your TOS surgery?

Hes a thoracic surgeon, he runs the tos program at mass general in Boston.
Dr Donahue says Pec minor s is rare only 8% of people who have tos will get this.
I will be having botox for this next week. He says its not a good diagnostic tool, just another piece of the puzzle. Some of the other tos specialists mentioned on this forum say Pec minor occurs in 50% or more w tos.
Sounds like u need to see another tos specialist. Maybe u could see who your previous tos doc refers his pt 's. Where are u located?

Best of Luck!

Rhonda, will you be doing a lot of pec minor stretches when you get the botox. I am curious to know how it goes as you are getting surgeries in the reverse order as I am.

I'm in Ontario, Canada and even tracking down my old records from my surgery was a challenge. There aren't many TOS savvy docs here unfortunately... My pecs are definitely tight, they are for sure causing a problem, whether pec minor release is the solution?!? Finding the answer may be tough :(