How do you lengthen the nerves then? Nerve glides?

Nerve specific stretches, gliding and flossing. I think it would be worth the drive for you to see Ando or Sposa at least once. They even give you a login to access all of the modalities online.

Chroma,I've been seeing Dr. Ando too and I drive from Venice-its 50 miles. Luckily the driving doest bother me too much unless I am sitting in Traffic. i think They have a good program. The Rib mobilizations and exercises are really good. The nerve glides are hard for me I have to modify them to not overstrech.After having seen Joyce for 12 visits I wasnt getting anywhere, so for me its worth it. I am only going to do 2-3 more weeks of 2x a week, then once a week.My insurance is finished so I am paying cash, and its $40 cheaper than Joyce .I see Ando and Char. He does things that no other pt does, it kind of hurts but it is harder on women,because the ribs are under our breasts! I actually did the eval and a hands on consultation at the same time, as I didnt want to rive that far for just the 15 min. eval.

Interesting Website
 

This guy is a massage therapist and has a pretty interesting website. He seems to think outside the box. If you type in "Thoracic outlet syndrome" in the search box, he has some stories about people he's treated with TOS.http://saveyourself.ca/articles/mobilizing.php

http://hruskaclinic.com/blog/view/sm...n-his-new-blo/

this is a neat idea on asymmetries. i doubt itll help me but maybe itll help someone out there

Redness and burning in face seems to be gone
 

Ever since I had my TOS surgery(scalenectomy), which was almost 21 years ago now, I've had this redness and burning on the right side of my face and ear when I get a flare up. Sometimes, my right forearm would get the same redness and burning too. I was just thinking I haven't noticed this in quite a while now.

The joint mobility exercises must be helping something heal. I'm not sure what caused the burning, whether it was nerves, circulation, or what. That's the thing with TOS, it's hard to tell exactly what causes certain symptoms but I think it's a good sign. Hopefully I'm not speaking too soon.

I've been doing the joint mobility exercises for about 26 months now and the improvements have come gradually. When I had surgery 21 years ago, I had about three or four weeks of therapy after words and it was all the wrong kind of stuff. Aggressive stretching, weights, bands, etc. I'm still not doing any strengthening exercises, just trying to regain full range of motion in all of my joints.

I'm actually kind of surprised at the progress I've been able to make with the joint mobility exercises this many years later. I think a big part of my problems are tight muscles and adhesions. After this many years, I thought the damage was done and couldn't be reversed, but I may be wrong. It's just a very slow, painstaking process.

I also get an inflamed left ear, mostly the ear lobe. And some pain on the same side of the head. Definitely something going on with circulation there.

Did you ever try the "3 Minutes..." stretch set by Weisberg? It's easy to add as it is only 3 minutes and I found it very helpful for improving my overall body. Another good one I discovered recently was a video by Katy Bowman called "Aligned and Well - From the Shoulders Up".

Intuition
 

On the introduction to the Intu-flow program, Scott Sonnon talks about intuition. Basically what he says is, "You do know best." Your body sends you little clues, and signals, as to what it needs. The longer I do this, the more I understand what he's talking about and I just keep changing my movement program accordingly.

Usually, as one area loosens up, then I find a different tight area and I work on that, and so on and so on. It's kind of like I'm unraveling different layers of muscle fascia a little at a time. Sometimes one area has to release before another area can move freely. It's actually pretty fascinating the way it works. I spend a lot of time studying anatomy and watching people move to give me ideas.

I've been doing this for 27 months now and still making progress. It's one baby step after another. Always just going to the edge of tension, never through it, or into pain. If I do, I pay the price.

Hellothere said he is doing good after 13 months of physical therapy, and it wasn't any one thing that made him better, but a combination of things. I agree with that. The more I focus on my entire body, the better I seem to do. I'm trying to leave no stone unturned.

Police, Fire, and Military
 

I'm not sure if there's any police, fire, or military people on here, but I just thought I'd post this link to his free program. The stuff Scott Sonnon teaches has helped me tremendously so I'm becoming a huge fan.http://www.rmaxinternational.com/om/home.php

Coop42, I am a police officer and just downloaded the program. Thanks. I will try it when I recover from my surgery tomorrow.