New to the board - 31 yr old male with TOS symptoms
 

Hello,

I am a 31 year old male new to this site.
I developed bilateral TOS symptoms end of June 2019. My right side is slightly worse that my left. I currently feel nerve pain when i extend arms straight out to the side. I even get tingling in my fingers if I put my arm around my wife on the couch now.

I met with a vascular surgeon last October who specializes in first rib resection, he referred me to PT and said come back if it doesn't improve. I returned in February with more info on my symptoms and he said based on some of the positions I put my arms in that caused nerve pain he said that doesn't even sound like TOS. He went onto say that his surgery may not even help and thus declined to move forward with me, he has referred me to a neurologist but I can't get in until May.

I've had botox injections into pec major and scalenes. I've tried countless chiropractors, multiple different PTs along with massages and graston muscle scraping. Nothing has yielded much for results.

My current PT has said my pec area is very tight and he thinks this could be causing the issues. I've been trying to stretch my pecs for almost a year now without much change.

My questions for this community:
1. How long do I continue PT before opting for a pec minor release surgery? - feels like my only option at this point
2. Any advice for other options or things to explore?
3. Are there any surgeons in Minnesota that perform a pec minor release surgery?

Trigger point work? stretching muscles that have trigger points is a waste of time..
Gentle stretching vs forcing a stretch.. Look up Sharon Butler RSI website..

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I had another EMG done today on both arms with no significant findings, for the 3rd time. I don't understand how I can have nerve pain and tingling symptoms and no test can show the cause.

Next step is botox injections in the scalenes followed by MRIs of both shoulders.
Anyone else have any advice for tests I should be asking for?

do you have any pain that starts at your spine and wraps around tto your pecs. i have had thorasic spinal cord surgery.. there are a lot of symptoms so be careful and ask a lot questions. it took 13 years for my diagnosis and almost lost the use of my legs. so any questions u have ill try to answer.. I'm not a dr but i have a lot of life experience. good luck

No real pain in the spine. I have pain and tingling that comes out under the scaps but majority of the pain and tingling is the top of the shoulder, comes out under the armpit and then I get symptoms in the triceps and bicep through out the day down to the hand. It is worse on the right than the left but I've had a year of left shoulder pain with no known cause or injury.

Newest symptom is a knife like pain on the outside of my thumb when I reach and grasp objects. That is about a week old.

I'm exploring surgery - either a first rib resection or a pec minor release. My frustration with the medical system has only increased as each doctor has a different idea and none of them are driving the ship. So now I am reaching out to orthopedists on my own.

What about a very good DO?
What is Osteopathic Medicine? | American Osteopathic Association

Might you have kidney stones? Since you've had thoracic spine surgery, you're probably right in guessing that the pain has some connection with it, but the pain of kidney stones may be like the pain you describe too.

It's often described as flank pain but it can definitely radiate around. The pain can be very nearly intolerable.

I hope you have a competent doctor looking into this?