I am wondering if anyone in here with neurogenic TOS has had any luck or relief of symptoms by wearing a back or shoulder brace? I have one type of brace for TOS but it keeps both arms and hands at one level and its difficult for me to do things. Martina

I was given the AlignMed S3 brace from a thoracic surgeon to help me. It made me worse. It placed to much pressure on my clavicle, rib and muscles which are rock hard. The only thing people tend to agree on with tos is that it can't be cured with force. The brace was force, but everything works differently on different people.

There are various tape products - that are more forgiving - more as a reminder to be aligned that forced to be aligned.

to me it seems like braces are a little one size fits all or is supposed to fix all.

Most of us have such differing causes and varying symptoms that unless you get a custom brace made specifically for your symptoms....
I'm just leery of the one size fits all - for many things..

Martina
Try loosening the traps to accommodate, The brace wants to encourage to have good posture, TOS wants us to shorten the path the nerve is being stretched on so we curl or hunch.

I use biofreeze every day, blue ice quilt on the neck head base, and heat on the traps. OR the Relia Med TENS. It is a pulsing massaging feel as opposed to the bee sting type. On the web site they are only $75 dollars.
I hook it up and run for hours.

Deep massage to the traps: use a tennis ball and wall to dig in, get a family member to knead them out, a hot tub.
There is a prescription cream ds uses, it has the baclofen in it....PCP ordered it.

An inexpensive brace is a thin nylon backpack, with a Campbell soup can in it. Just enough to bring back the shoulders.
I did buy a cross the back, lycra back support bra tank for days I have to work.
My recliner is my life during the day, and where I sleep at night.

http://www.medicinenet.com/thoracic_...me/article.htm
It is felt by some researchers that the evolution of the torso of primates from a four-legged to a two-legged position may predispose humans to the development of thoracic outlet syndrome. The resulting vertical posture produced flattening of the chest cage and a shift of the shoulder joint backward, both of which narrowed the thoracic outlet.

i have winged scapulas so when im hyper irritated i wear a brace around the house, it definitely helps keep me from hurting myself even more but v itchy/uncomfortable

i think it helps with my back of shoulder pain more..so i agree with di

Try Kinesio Tape for the "winged scapulas"

It's great ! ! ! !

http://www.google.com/search?source=...i=g10&aql=&oq=

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&s...&aqi=&aql=&oq=

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&g...q=Kinesio+Tape

I would have to let PT therapist or hubby put it on my scapulas. I would sit up straight, do belly breathing and relax shoulders, shoulder shrugs and whathaveU.

Precut the tape for need.

Stretch tape from scapula to scapula, like at bra line. You will be able to tell and it's easier to show the person by you first pointing on their scapulas from point to point to get it right. Don't overstretch tape or it can cause muscle spasm also.

The taping has some healing properties. It will help with your activities of daily living (ADLs).

Thanks, I will try the thin nylon backpack thing with the soup can in it. I know i have alot of old extra backpacks around the house from my 2 kids. I have been using Icy Hot or Flexall (which is stronger than icy hot). I have tried the Biofreeze before, it was ok, I didnt find it that amazing though. What is the name of the perscription cream that you are talking about? Is that cream just for massage?? I have a 50 dollar brace ordered from a drug store called Andrew Brown's, in south scranton, which should have been in by now, I ordered the thing in December! I will call them tommorow about that. The pulsating TENS unit sounds much better then that buzzing vibration TENS. What is a blue ice quilt? Martina

im wearing this full blown shoulders back brace rt now as an experiment

i can wear it but i have mild swelling in my upper arm area. it feels really weird. i guess this means i have vascular sx too

http://www.amazon.com/OTC-Elastic-Po...947035&sr=8-17

i use a shoulder brace and it works great! it keeps my shoulders back and also just supports them, which helps w/ the pain a lot. problem is, it's really bulky and it's noticeable. i hate wearing it at work, i get plenty of grief from coworkers. the other problem is that after i wear it for a few hours my skin around my shoulder starts getting sore. i can't wear it all the time because of that.