The first time I go over new trigger points it hurts like heck. Sometimes, I even feel nauseous afterwards. Some of these muscles have been tight, and haven't moved well in years, but I'm taking a full body approach and working on everything. After I've worked on them a few times, the muscles start to soften up a little bit and the pain is not so bad, but the first time I work on an area can be pretty brutal.

An interesting thing is, some of the most painful spots are where there isn't that much muscle. Like the edge of a rib, the top of my shoulders, the sides of my wrists, my shins, and even my ankles.

I agree, pinkie ball on a stick is best for pec minor.

My daughter gave me a pair of Miracle Balls for Christmas. She knows I'm always looking for something new to try out. Basically, they're just 4 inch vinyl balls that you lay on and relax, kind of like you do with a foam roller. I don't like foam rollers that much, so I'll have to test these out for a bit and see how they compare. http://ergonomics.about.com/od/buyin...racle_ball.htm

Yesterday when I went on my morning walk, my left leg cramped up, and I had to limp back home. This morning, same thing. Stuff like this can be pretty frustrating but it's kind of been par for the course whenever I try something new.

It's from lying on one of those Miracle Balls on Saturday, just for a few seconds. Obviously, it's a little too much for my lower back and I irritated the sciatic nerve. It's happened to me many times along the way. That's why whenever I try something new I only do one or two different exercises to see how my body reacts. Sometimes just a little is still too much. Being my own therapist, I'm constantly having to figure things out and make adjustments.

It's hard to believe almost three years have gone by already since I started this. I started in April 2010, and now it's 2013 already. Crazy. It seems like it's only been a few months.

I was watching Dr. Phil yesterday, and he said that 90% of people who make New Year's resolutions fail because they quit. I haven't quit yet and I'm not planning on it this year. Last year was a bad year for me, having heart surgery and all that. The year before that I ended up in the hospital with lower back pain. Hopefully, this year I can stay out of the hospital.

My goal for this year is to stay out of the hospital and work everyday on my goal of getting as pain free as possible. The hardest part about this is there's an unknown finish line. I'm kind of just cruising along on a wing and a prayer hoping for the best.

On the Dr. Phil show I was watching yesterday, he was talking about setting goals by specific dates and times. I don't think that works for regaining your mobility. Your body heals and regains mobility at its own pace. It goes faster the more time I put in, but only to a point. If I push too hard, I usually just end up flaring myself up and slowing down progress.

One goal I've had since I started this, is to be able to touch my toes again someday. My wife thinks that's unrealistic because my back is so screwed up, and she may be right, but it's still my goal. I haven't set a time limit on that, though. If it happens, it will be on its own time. The same way a baby learns to walk on his own time. There's just no way to predict how long it will take.

Did you get the book too? The creator of the miracle ball also created a small book with instructions on how to use them.

Anyway, my favorite stuff for overall body alignment is still somatics, the Weisberg PT stretches, some Katy Bowman and some Peggy Brill.

Still no cure for my TOS though.

Yes, the Miracle Balls came with a small instruction book.

"If you want to get yourself out of your pain on your own, you have to develop intuition." Naudi Agular-Functionalpatterns.com

I think this is very true. People keep asking me how I figure out all the different things that I'm doing. Basically, it's just intuition and a willingness to experiment a lot. My routine is different every single day, that way I don't get bored and my body keeps adapting.

The last time I had physical therapy was probably about eight or nine years ago. It was at Dr. Newkirks Office in San Rafael. He dealt with a lot of TOS patients. The extent of my therapy was, several sessions of hands on therapy, lying on the floor with some rolled up bubble wrap between my shoulder blades, and lying lengthwise on a foam roller. That was it. A good start, but barely scratched the surface of what I needed. It was like trying to melt an iceberg with a cigarette lighter.

Nowadays, there's plenty of information out there on the Internet, but you have to sort through it and figure out what works and what doesn't. Some of the people out there giving advice and exercises for TOS, are just repeating what someone else told them, they haven't done, and experienced it, on their own. I try to learn from the people who have done it themselves. A lot of information out there is just plain wrong, or doesn't work, in my opinion.

Clubs are my favorite thing to use when I want to get a little more stretch in some of my exercises. I have a 1 lb pair of Indian clubs, and a 5 lb pair of Clubbells. A Clubbell is just the brand name of the clubs Scott Sonnon's company sells. I can't use both of the 5 pound clubs at the same time yet, but I'm getting better at using one of them. If I ever get to the point were I can use them both at once, I'll be doing pretty good.

The nice thing about a club is it stretches everything out away from your body and decompresses everything. It's really good for your shoulders, elbows, and wrists. Mine are starting to feel a little bit better all the time. Using them caused a lot of inflammation at first, but over time that's gradually gotten better. I did a lot a weightlifting when I was young and that kind of compressed everything. Swinging the clubs is really helping to get my shoulders and arms stretched out and functioning better. Another great idea I've gotten from Scott Sonnon.