Posture
 

My wife mentioned the other day how much better my posture is than it used to be. I guess my work is starting to be noticeable to other people. That's always nice. The thing is, I really haven't worked specifically on my posture that much. It's just that the joint mobility, and myofascial release, gradually loosen everything up so that it's easier to keep better posture.

Another thing is, from doing the mobility exercises, more and more dormant muscles are beginning to fire again. That's one of the big pluses of joint mobility vs. static stretching. It teaches the nervous system to fire those dormant muscles and your movements get much more fluid.

This post was on 6-21-2011, so about 21 months ago. I'm still tighter, and have more pain in the left shoulder and hip, but it's still improving. Progress comes slowly. This is definitely not a quick fix.

I've been using the Thera Cane on my hip flexors and that's helping a lot. I think some of of my lower back issues are partly due to tight hip flexors. The left side seems especially bound up.

Shoulder Rehab Exercises with Clubbells
 

I came across this video yesterday and did these exercises with a 1 pound club. They're using 5 and 10 pounders, that's too much for me right now. The exercises felt pretty good though. You really feel them in your upper back, back of neck, shoulders, and armpits. If I don't have any flare-ups, I'm going to try to work my way up to a 5 pound Clubbell soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOZyxr9AkUw

3 Year Update
 

I've been doing mobility exercises for 3 years now, so here's an update.

I guess I should give a quick recap. I had TOS surgery on one side almost 22 years ago now.(Scalenectomy only) It made me worse so I never had the other side done. However, I worked that way for 11 or 12 years before I was ever diagnosed. My symptoms started when I was about 18 and I'll be 51 in a couple of weeks. My hand used to swell, and turn purple before the surgery, so I had a lot of vascular symptoms on that side. The nonsurgical arm never did that, but I did have pain in it. My pain levels have been much worse ever since the surgery. The swelling in my hand got a little better, but overall I felt much worse. It's kind of like my body got really tight after, and I was never able to get loosend up, no matter what I tried.

After three years of joint mobility exercises, and myofascial release for about the last five are six months, mainly with a Thera Cane, and my thumbs, here's where I'm at.

The surgical arm is the best it's ever been. It's not perfect, but it's still improving. A lot of the symptoms, like burning, redness, tingling, and pruney fingers, are mostly gone. Also, the pain in my shoulder is getting much better. Overall, I have much better use of that arm.

The nonsurgical arm is feeling much better as well. Most of the pain used to be on the inside of my arm and in my armpit, kind of where the bicep attaches. That arm probably feels the best it's felt in about 30 years.

My lower back and legs are starting to feel a lot better, also. Both from the mobility exercises, and tons of myofascial release in the last few months.

I still have much work to do, but I'm very encouraged with the progress I've made. I keep learning new things all the time and I'm looking forward to seeing how much progress I can make this year.

One thing I've learned is, the right kind of therapy after surgery is crucial. Without good therapy, you probably won't get better. Myofascial release, and joint mobility are very important. I think that probably, the longer you have symptoms before having surgery, the more therapy you will need afterwards. Tight fascia will not release itself. It must be done with massage and movement. That's probably one of the reasons younger people have better results from surgery. The fascia hasn't been affected as much.

Time lost during a flare
 

This last month I had a pretty bad flare. Full body. Arms, legs, back, everything. It took about 2 weeks to calm down and I couldn't exercise during that time because of such bad muscle spasms.

Once a flare like that calms down, I have to slowly, and gradually, ease back into the exercises. I can't just jump in where I left off, or I'll put myself into pain. It probably takes a week, to 10 days, after the flare has calmed down, to get back to where I was. So I figure when I get a flare like that, it sets my progress back close to a month. It can be pretty frustrating and kind of take the wind out of your sails.

Flare ups definitely suck for both the pain and the time they rob us of. What do you think flared you up this time?

I'm not sure this time. It just kind of snuck up on me. Most of the time I know, but sometimes it still takes me by surprise.

Same here.

Chinese Cups for Trigger Points
 

I've been playing around with these Chinese suction cups for about a month now, and they seem to work pretty well on trigger points.

Saturday afternoon, I had these knots in the back of my arm, and shoulder, that were driving me crazy. Kind of in the rotator cuff area. I used the Theracane on them and that helped a little bit. Then I got the idea to use a Chinese cup on them.

I had my wife put the cup on because I couldn't reach back there. I told her to just feel around for a tight spot and put the cup on it. She did, and after about 5 minutes the trigger point relaxed. It felt so much better, that I had her keep moving the cup around, until we covered seven or eight different spots. Anywhere there was a knot.

I'm not sure if these will work consistently for that, but so far I'm liking them a lot. All the muscles I've used them on seem be getting softer and more pliable.

Chinese cups daily
 

I've been using these Chinese cups pretty much daily now. I put them anywhere I can make them stick. Neck, shoulders, arms, legs, back, hips, armpits. Pretty much everywhere.

They seem to do several things. For one, they pull more blood through the muscle and help it relax and soften up. The other thing is, they pull on the muscles, rather than push, so it helps to decompress things and separate layers of muscle. I like to move around when the cup, or cups, are on there, that way it stretches the muscles even more.

Really, the only downside I see to these, is, all the purple marks they leave on your skin, but they fade after a few days, so I'm not too worried about it. I feel like they're helping me move better so it's worth it.