While looking for answers to my chest pain I came across this syndrome. I understand it, but have a couple of questions.

If you have never heard of it I took the liberty of copying it from the website I was on.
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Pectoralis Minor (PecMinor) Syndrome - compression of the brachial plexus between the coracoid process the contracted Pectoralis Minor Muscle.

Now the question I have is : I read that the pain goes from the collar bone down. But can it reach to where the heart would be sitting?
I get this type of pain in addition to the shoulder, arm, neck, and shoulder blade pain. I am pretty sure this is whats going on with me, although let me tell you the chest pain is a very, very scary thing!! It feels as though I am having a heart attack or some other catastrophe with my heart.

Also, if anyone is as lucky as I am to suffer with this type of pain in the heart area (sarcasm) then what do you do to help relieve it? Is surgery available to people who suffer from PecMinor Syndrome?

Can this,, or TOS, also cause heart skips?

BTW, I am SO glad I found this site! I was starting to feel all alone until I found you guys lol! I know none of you are doctors, but I was just looking for some answers and support.

The pect minor pain sometimes does feel like it is going to your breast tissue as well as where the heart is. Ofcourse you have to have your heart checked out to be on the safe side, if you suspect anything to do with the heart.

The surgery for Pect Minor syndrome is called a Pect Minor Tenotomy. If it has been going on for a long time and physical therapy and self massage doesn't fix the old stuff that has built up, only then would you consider a tenotomy being done by a vascular surgeon who does a lot of those.

A good Physical Therapist who understands TOS well can mobilize the pect minor and teach you to self massage that area with a 5 "diameter ball and it has worked wonders for me and I had a lot of tightness issues with my Pect Minor, prior to that.

With a Tenotomy, you might lose some function of the arm and it may have to be a trade off between pain relief and some function loss.
Some patients on this forum have had a tenotomy, someone might post about their experience.

[in addition to the shoulder, arm, neck, and shoulder blade pain.]

You could also be having muscle spasms in those combined areas.
The intercostal muscles between the ribs can be in spasm too.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=intercosta...ms&t=canonical

Do you know what might have caused these symptoms for you?
Are you still doing that activity?
How long have you had this?

An expert/skilled PT or even an expert multi mode chiropractor should be able to do an indepth evaluation and suggest treatment.

I had severe spasms in all those areas and my chiro using multiple kinds of therapies, was able to resolve the worst of them in 8 sessions or so. I still had ongoing/chronic issues, so continued for quite a few years, by choice. My ins. covered it ,so no out of pocket.

I had very restricted range of upper body movements , a tightness in all my neck, shoulder and upper arm muscles, affected my breathing and a odd sort of vibration feeling in my chest.

I was not working, if you are working at a job that causes sx then it will take much longer to counter act those negative activities.

I too have had some of these spasms. However, mine is on the right side so I know it's not my heart. The pain is right below the collar bone but slightly above the breast. It is a very sharp spasm that may last from a couple minutes up to thirty minutes. It quite often will take my breath away.

Is this similar to what you are feeling?

I haven't been to a Dr. since this started so not sure exactly what it is yet, but may be similar to what your experiencing. Usually a hot compress or bath will help mine go away. I also ice the area in the evenings when I am not having spasms. (Don't know if that helps or not, but the area actually feels a little swollen)

I rolled over last night and experienced similar spasms that lasted a few minutes. It was my right side and subsided after I got out of bed and stood up. This is the only time I've experience this.

Hi, I had similar pain including pain to my heart feeling like a heart attack, which happened 3 times. I have bilateral neurogenic TOS and bilateral Pec Minor Syndrome. I had surgery 8 weeks ago which included a pec minor tenetomy on my right side. I am still having a lot of my prior symptoms but the pain is less in my pec areas (both sides), although I do still feel tightness. I haven't had any spasms. Also, for me, haven't lost my arm function due to the pec minor tenetomy, but am still in the early phase of recovery for both surgeries so I can't tell right now what exactly could be impacting some of my symptoms. I do know how to make it better, and using a small soft ball really does help with releasing the tight muscles.

Hello everyone. Thank you for your answers. Actually what I feel is more of a stabbing ache over the heart. More like a constant spasm?

And I got the injuries I have because 1. I broke my collar bone at age three, and 2. I was in a massive car accident in 2002.

I was also wondering if anyone else gets spasms near the lung area? This happens to me sometimes when waking up. Or it will wake me in the middle of the night. Or if I am sitting slumped over for a long period of time these spasms tend to sneak up on me. Now I have had lung xrays and it doesn't appear to be my lungs. No infection or tumor.

But I do not know much about TOS and PecMinor Syndrome and have no health insurance so what better place for me to come, right?

If some of the spinal vertebra in the thoracic region got subluxed from the car accident , those might be having some influence on some of it.

MDs aren't trained to check for these, like a chiropractor is, and some DCs are much better than others just as with anything...there are also spinal PTs, but I don't know if they do adjusting and such.

My chiro reduced his fees with cash payment while I was not able to use my ins.
It doesn't hurt to ask them and many have free 1st evaluation, so you can get a feel for them and their knowledge /skill as they do the eval.
I'd try a few to eval them LOL, and just ask for eval only if you aren't comfortable with any adjustments right away.

If the foundation is misaligned you really can't rebuild the house properly.

look at this chart in the T 1/2/3 area

Wow! Jo mar thanks so much for the chart. Could you please post the source of this chart because it's hard to read. But so necessary to undertand it for TOS related issues. Maybe I could order one ?
Also somehow the print on this forum has become really small. Is there a way to make it bigger? Thanks !

I get this same pain. I feel a tight sharp pain with I inhale. I have noticed that it is worse when sitting on a couch or squishy chair. It resolves itself when I stand up. I am currently undergoing some osteopath treatment and a few suggested causes were a pec minor tightness or the sac around the heart. Now, both have been treated and I still get this pain....so I do not really know. The doctors are confused about it too.