Mine was extra cervical ribs AND bands. I had the bands removed in the early 1980s and it helped for a while. By 1996 I'd lost most of the use of my left arm and hand. It was awfully painful. I had the rib resection in 1996, just before being diagnosed with Sjogren's and Psoriatic Arthritis (but that's another story). I still have 2 bulging discs in my neck, but no one knows if they are from the TOS or the arthritis . I may be doing an SCS trial soon . Debby

bumping up

Interesting poll. I haven't voted within it because I've no idea what the causal factor or factors are for my TOS. I do work with a desk+computer for up to 8 hours a day, haven't had a recent accident or other acute stimulus for an injury, and have no extra cervical rib or abnormality, so work-related appears to be the most probable choice.

For those that know for certain that their TOS is work related, how do you know? Is it merely a case of picking the most likely culprit once other likely cases are eliminated? My neurologist did not attempt to deduct the cause of my TOS and neither has my phyiso. I do have the feeling that knowing the cause would be helpful but don't know how to achieve any level of certainty.

I think it would be good to try to figure out if your work might be a cause. or play a part in it.


Things to consider

how many years on the job?
is desk/workspace as ergonomic for you as possible?
is a cold air vent blowing on you at work?
overall posture? head/shoulder alignment= good/ poor/getting worse?
any other possibles activities that might had contributed?
weightlifting, playing musical instruments, texting, lots of x box/play station/compute gaming as youngster?

If any family members have similar body type & aches and pains - it could be a family predisposition.

I knew mine was work related as I could recover on the weekends but sx would appear by Tuesday again - 4 -10 hr days - so 3 days to recover.
finally I stopped being able to recover, tried to keep working by eating advil like candy.. but that is not a good thing for the tummy or gut..
so filed a wc claim and after awhile of light duty we decided it was best if I was off work so PT would have a better chance to do some good.

A car hoist fell on me and crushed shoulder and clavicle. went with injury

The only thing i could trace it back to is perhaps lifting in 2008. I used to do free weights and maybe one time i used weights that were slightly too heavy and or used bad form when doing it. I had a c5,c6 cervical fusion operation for DDD, and that only made my TOS worse and didnt even help my neck/back problem.

mine started out of the blue. i have no idea what caused it. i just remember being in an elevator in atlanta in 1997 thinking that my shoulder had been hurting for months and that i should go get it checked out. really weird, i always just kind of hoped it would disappear as mysteriously as it arrived. no such luck.

Although the past 5 or so years my symtoms have got worse I can go back almost 20 years when it all started. I got my GP to look at my medical file from before seeing him and there was problems 15+ years ago that can be linked with my TOS. I used to be able to have chiro, massage etc... but the past few years get short term relief. Now due to clotting and blood thinners all therapy is a no no. It took a long time to join the dots so to speak

For me it wasn't so much work related until the past 5 years but before that when I was raising my kids was when my neck, upper back and scapula became a problem for me.

Count me in the "Bi-lateral Cervical Rib" group. I knew I had them since jr. high. The ends of the ribs pop out in that little hollow area by the collarbone (no shoulderless outfits for me )

I haven't been diagnosed with this, but if I am at some point.

It would be the accident area. Because I've had many accidents over
the years. But I also wanted to keep this bumped.

Donna