Hi everyone,

I've been dealing with some symptoms that resemble pec minor syndrome and/or TOS on my left side. I had scalenectomy + rib resection surgery in summer of 2012 and had good results.

My pec is way tighter on this side than it ever was on my other side. I've read through a number of the forums discussing pec minor syndrome, but I was curious if anybody had any thoughts on if...

1) my tight pec could be purely a result of TOS (in other words, would I be able to correct things with a surgery on this side?)

2) people have found a way to make a chronically tight pec minor release of calm down for an extended period of time

3) if a pec minor tentonomy surgery permanently changes your ability to push/pull things. Is weight lifting, swimming, etc. completely out of the option afterward?

Dr. Donahue said that their shoulder specialists there at MGH are unable to discern any functional losses from a tenotomy in cases they've studied.

Can you reword that?

Apologies...

2) have people found a way to make a chronically tight pec minor release of calm down for an extended period of time? Any particular stretches (other than the standard doorway stretch, etc) or self massage (I've been doing mine with a baseball) that people think work?

the foam roller
your baseball with self massage
regular massage with a focus on the pec minor
pec minor botox block
pec minor steroid shots I am getting dry needling done next Friday - my PT will be doing the pec minor, though it is is a bit of a lost cause because I have the surgery schedule the first part of December

I had a right sided tentonomy in August and my ability to move is fine. I can,t physically tell any difference. I can pick things up, push and pull things like a grocery cart or vacuume. Prior to surgery I was swimming. I haven't tried since surgery but I don't think it would be a problem. I' m currently running and using light weights for exercise. Hope this helps

I don't like the doorway stretch because I lose all circulation in the arm. Instead, I lay on a wide yoga bolster (with the addition of a buckwheat pillow on 2nd bolster to get enough length for my back). I then drop my arms to the side in various positions. The one that catches the pec minor the most is with the arms up. I can really feel it.

It's also a total "gravity stretch". You don't do anything except relax as much as possible because you are laying down.

You can do variations like arching over a large exercise ball, or letting the arms drop back when you're 45 degrees back on an inversion ball.

It took time for my pec minor to lengthen. Several weeks of doing the pec minor stretches twice a day.