I have heard before that "strength" stuff is bad in physical therapy.

My physical therapy has been going ok (not hurting me like most have in the past).

Until.....he just gave me strengthen exercises.

i flared up after these.

so what is the reasoning behind it all?

I started twice weekly PT in May and did not begin to do strength training exercises until two weeks ago. how long have you been in PT?

strengtheing is really really tricky

i think most pts give you exercises that make tos worse. i am doing baby stuff on these suspension ropes..on my knees where i have both arms bent 90 degrees and i lean to one side.

pilates, push up plus, resistance bands, all of that flared me up

It could be because TOS is necessarily a compression of the neurovascular bundle syndrome, when you try to strenghen, it just puts more pressure and crushes the vessels and nerves even more, I am specially scared of those therabands for resistance and strengthening, my body just wants to run. It's a gut feeling! Just listen to your gut.

you have to learn to exercise one muscle without doing the other which is just freakin impossible bc theyre all right next to each other.

I did OK with some light strengthening after the pain level & symptoms were down to a 0-2 range.

like the wall pulley w/ adjustable weights - .5 up to 5 lb only
laying on a bench/table doing some .5 lb - 5 lb side lift and rotation

and as I began to feel up to it a lot more of the normal activities around the yard & garden.

I do think starting with an aligned skeleton (expert chiropractic? or spinal PT) and good posture really helps. If there are misalignments you can't really progress until those are fixed. Like trying to build a house on a broken foundation. Chiros can adjust wrists, ankles, shoulders, ribs, elbows, hips, and the all important c1c2 ( that takes some extra training some don't do it.)

Then if there are trigger points - those need to be resolved - trying to stretch a muscle with a trigger point in it is a waste of time- get rid of the TrP first. And when you get rid of that one, other latent TrPs may show up and those need to be treated too.

I think trying to isolate single muscles and do too many reps just sets you up for for troubles, doing large overall movements works better for me.

yes the strentgthening is tricky. Some flare me up too. i really have only 3 that dr. Ando gave me using a theraband. I dont think using a dumbell is good. Personnally, I dont do them unless I am feeling good. And right now I am only doing them one at a time to see which one flares me up. Dont do them if you know a certain one flares you up. I am still struggling with this myself. however I do think it is the key to long term stability-to strengthen the muscle in order to hold the ribs in place. The muscles I do are only rhomboids, neck muscles in the front and bonnet (I'm not sure what muscles they do.)

its very difficult!! ugh!

Bingo! Posture and form are everything. Difficulty is amplified when you have pain. I've only been able to correctly do a number of exercises recently (post-surgery) with a PT aide or Pilates instructor monitoring my every move. Previously, I seemed to always be aggravating or re-injuring something.

"I do think starting with an aligned skeleton (expert chiropractic? or spinal PT) and good posture really helps. If there are misalignments you can't really progress until those are fixed. Like trying to build a house on a broken foundation. Chiros can adjust wrists, ankles, shoulders, ribs, elbows, hips, and the all important c1c2 ( that takes some extra training some don't do it.)" - Jo Mar

Till I went to Ando and Aston (PT 's who also do rib work) I didn't know how important it is to treat misalignments, as Ando fixed my misalignments and mobilized my nerves, I started feeling better immediately and didn't even need heat or stim . I was surprised I was able to do all the new exercises they showed me without pain.

Jo mar , You are right first we need to fix the body's foundation, maintain good posture and then exercise. It can't be emphasized enough!

Also I find it much easier to do any exercises after some cardio conditioning. It just warms up those muscles and tissues and gives you so much flexibility.
Cardio (walking or whatever you can do) every single day is an absolute must for TOS' ers! (Peter Edgelow totally believes in it, it is a big part of his protocol. Ofcourse it has to be done without pain)

i have all these goofy tricks. it comes across as OCD im sure. but at home, i do things in front of a mirror, or even better i wait til it's darker, turn out the lights and have a flashlight behind my back so i can see if i shrug my shoulders and stuff (good for nerve glides), also i put my free hand on the muscle to see if it's tightening up.