http://surgery.wustl.edu/TOS_Consortium.aspx

This website could be useful - lists centers around the country for TOS as well as various doctors nationwide that specialize in TOS treatment.

Why not try intense progressive shoulders shrugs before your surgery ?

Huh? Not following..

I can only speak for myself, but the research I've done and what my doctor has told me is that vascular TOS almost always has to be corrected with surgery, unlike neurogenic TOS, which may respond to physical therapy and the proper exercises. Once compression of the subclavian veins or arteries in the costoclavicular space has started, there is usually no reversal or improvement, and in fact it tends to get worse. Then you can get blood clots, aneurysms, or otherwise damaged vessels that have to be repaired. I had a doppler ultrasound of my brain and I already have microemboli (very tiny blood clots) floating around in my middle cerebral artery, so surgery for me is a must as I am a walking stroke risk. Surgery is the last thing I want, but it's what I need to stay alive, so I just have to get it over with. YUCK :-(

I talk about this :

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8427413

http://www.silcom.com/~dwsmith/ajs293.html

If it work it's good, if it's fail it does not matter.

blood clots, aneurysms don't appaear in 3 weeks of trapezius musculation..

Because lots of shoulder shrugs is what hypertrophied my upper traps leaving less space in that general area and probably contributing to my TOS.

Also because in this message you have not provided any context or justification. Were you expecting people to come back with anything but "Huh?"?

The first one mentions "graduated resisted shoulder elevation exercises" but does not state (in the abstract) how many exercises, which exercises, sets, reps, frequency of sessions, etc. all of which you'd want to know if you're looking for the best chance to reproduce the results.

The 2nd link has the text of the article, but unfortunately fails to include all tables and figures including the all important "The exercise program is outlined in Table I." If you know where we can find this, that would be great.

The study only covered 8 patients. It would be nice to (a) see what the specific exercise program was and (b) see the results reproduced by other therapists preferably with a larger number of patients.

If anyone can find Table I, I'm sure it would be appreciated by this group.

You can buy it. Personally i can't for the moment..

Also, in that PRI article with the football player, I seem to recall that they had him stop exercising his upper traps because they were hypertrophied.

I think it depend on the cause. In the pri article the trapezius was already hypertrophied. It's not clear what caused the aggravation. But clearly it was not a compression caused by shoulders traction in any way. It was clearly caused by a shock in the neck.

Anyway i don't see any risks. Just don't use scalenes when doing shoulders shrugs. I have try some and it's easy to not involve them, just don't use you rib cage/scalenes while elevating your shoulders.

If you want to buy it :

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...02961005805276

My advice is to try before doing surgery, and even if it work check your arteries's health.

The problem is the risks/rewards balance. Even if there is a 10% risks of microemboli, it may still worth it if you are at risk of surgery. It's bad to be results-oriented. I know it may not work but it's not the problem. It's all about taking the right decision, the lowest risks.