Have you guys found a decent exercise to strengthen the serratus

I used to be pretty hypermobile, but with age, TOS & the myofascial components..:not so much anymore, the knees & elbows still hyperextend.
I read somewhere that "old age" does tend stabilize those overly lax joints...LOL

The sx in your leg & muscles hurting w/ touch is an added complicating factor and maybe even something else..

Quite a few long timers w/TOS will have migrating sx of some sort into the lumbar & then leg etc.
Sometime due to some sort of compensating postures.
shoulders tilting and so the hips counter balance unconsciously..and after years it will show as sx.
I don't know if that could still apply for you since it has came on fairly recently..
Have you had any sport injuries, falls, whiplash? any injury that might have misaligned you in the past, and now it is showing it's sx? I had a fall off my horse @ age 15 w/minor concussion and I do think it is a added factor in my rsi/tos. (56 now):eek:

I think some did have sensitivity to touch, but that sx never applied for me.
So it's the muscles that are sensitive vs the skin being sensitive?

I've had no major injuries - no car accidents or broken bones or falls. It isn't the skin that's sensitive, its when I press lightly on a muscle - incredibly painful! And I noticed yesterday I had bruises on my leg from where I has been pressing lightly - and I don't normally bruise easily.
I was confident in the diagnosis of tos, except the leg sx and soreness elsewhere just doesn't make any sense. I was extremely fit and healthy a year ago. The one thing that might explain everything would be lymes, but I don't remember a tick bite and I can't face asking my doctor for the tests (he's starting to lose patience).

There was a long ago member that was dx'd with TOS & RSD, and later on Lyme - the Lyme wasn't tested for until many years into her sx and after the TOS surgery and the RSD dx , yet she still had many sx and got quite ill. Finally she saw a Lyme specialist and testing & treatment.

She ended up having to do strong antibiotics for 6 months or so. maybe even IV for awhile.
She didn't recall any bite either..

If you think it could possibly be Lyme get tested - it can really drag you into a pit. It can affect your mental/emotional state as well.
It needs to be good testing too. There are posts & threads if you use the search link in my siggy it will bring up info for you.

Klm207, I am so glad you started this thread because it sounds like we are going through a very similar exerpience right now. I just saw a new PT and she is prescribing very similar exercises for me to work on. She stopped all of my stretches, which is what I was doing all day long, which really seemed wrong to me. She now has me doing 12 shoulder shruggs six times per day along with wall pushups. I like how the wall pushups feel because it puts compression in my right arm which has been so, so painful, but the shruggs really irritate my nerves.

TOS is hard. The pain and lack of sleep are wearing me down. I have been doing the shoulder shrugg routine for only three days so it is far too early to tell if it will help or hurt. Right now I feel a bit more tingly in my left and right hand after I do the shruggs and my trapezius muscles scream at me. I also have to work very hard to keep my head from going forward. It has become a habit since an auto accident I had because that posture helped me keep my balance for months. However, as the balance issues calmed, the TOS surfaced.

I sure hope this new routine helps us both out. I have been so unsure about the whole thing as I have read here how improper or aggressive PT can make things worse.

Klm207, one more thought, have you had your thyroid level checked?

I like Brugger Relief Pose for correcting forward head posture. Basically, you pull your head back at the beginning before you do the arm rotation.

I can't do wall pushups without creating a flare up down the line. They create extra tension and muscle mass in my upper chest which is where the subclavian vessels run.

Chroma, I hear you. I am not sure if this PT is going to help or flare. I have been told by a hand surgeon and my vascular surgeon that I am developing RSD (they are polite and call it sympathetically maintained pain) in the right arm from the ATOS. I had a three-year battle with it in the left after a surgery, so I know it is not good. The wall pushups irritate my neck but they put compression in my right arm which does seem to lessen the RSD type pain for a brief period of time (and I mean brief). I may have to go ahead and get a stellate ganglion block on the right side (as advised by the vascular surgeon), time will tell. There is more and more research suggesting they do more harm than good when TOS is involved.

Like I mentioned before, I feel wall pushups are aggravating for TOS patients (elbows up caused arterial and nerve compression for me).

One exercise I found very beneficial is the scapular wall slide.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...or_lower_traps

The prone Y was not good for me and made me lightheaded and dizzy (probably because I had venous compression with arms overhead).

Scapular wall slides look like a good one to try. I don't understand from the picture how it is preformed, so I will look on the Internet. Thanks for the tip.