You use a pressure biofeedback device like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...f_rd_i=desktop

No need to buy the expensive gadget. One can simply take apart the old blood pressure cuff (the old-style with the pump and dial, not digital).

Here is the exercise (longus colli strengthening):

1. Lie on your back with knees bent
2. Place the pressure cuff under your neck and attach the meter where you can see it without moving your head. Inflate to 20 mmHg
3. Tuck the chin slightly to increase pressure to 22 mmHg
Make sure not to use scalenes or SCM muscles (feel them with your hand).
Hold for 5 seconds, relax for 5 seconds. Do 30 reps twice a day.
4. If this is easy, increase to a 10 second hold and then progress
to 30 or 40 mmHg.

This exercise is not hard to do. The idea is to learn to engage the right muscle for neck flexion and relax the scalenes.
I am not sure how fast one should progress and what target pressure is the best. I was adding 2mm pressure every few days. After a while I stopped using the meter, just inflated to the pressure that felt right.

I did this exercise for 3-4 months and found it helpful. Don't think my longus colli was actually weak. I was just using a bunch of other muscles along with it.

Thank you Hiker!

So does the arm/nerve pain come back when you work on the computer or only the shoulder pain? Its such an irritating thing, this TOS. And I still can't figure out why its the computer posture as you say, looking down, which is the biggest bother.

Hi Akash,

The current pain I have starts in the neck after 20-30 minutes of computer work. It then spreads to traps, clavicle and shoulder. This is when I stop.
I am guessing if ignore the pain and continue working, the pain will eventually spread down the arms.

Often times, I also get neck/shoulder pain at night. Static posture causing lack of circulation? Don't know.

Where did you get the DVD of exercises at? I have looked online but cannot find a Edgelow Protocol DVD.

I found no place to order it online.
You need to call Medical Dynamics at (800)945-0302.
I think they sell the DVD for $60. They also have a bunch of other stuff which you can get elsewhere (foam roll, exercise ball, pressure cuff, pinky-ball-on-a-stick etc).

I started this thread a year ago and it is time to draw some conclusions.
In the last few months I continued improving slowly, but steadily.
I have graduated from the Edgelow program to other exercises.
Most of my current exercises are based on Pilates, but I also do all kinds of stretches: neck, arms, pecs, hamstrings and so on as well as walking or running three times a day.
I continue working full time. Currently I work three days a week in the office and two days from home. Hopefully I'll be able to work in the office full time soon (remains to be seen).

I still have some aches and pains in the neck and traps (and some minor one and off back and knee pains), but nothing compared to how bad they were last year. I was seriously considering going on disability then as I could not work on the computer for more than a couple of minutes.
Today I worked on the computer for 8 hours (with small breaks) and am feeling OK.
I resumed doing most of my hobby activities. Though I have to limit reading and doing anything time-consuming on the comuter.

I think Edgelow's exercises were a very important first step in the recovery.
Nothing else I tried helped me get out of the cycle.

Like many of you, I have seen more than 20 doctors, therapists and chiropractors most of which were not helpful.
I never got a definitive diagnosis. Some suggested that I have nTOS, others dismissed that. I may never find it out, but hopefully I will continue getting better.

Hiker, can you post a rough timeline of the key exercises which you did and the daily schedule? Did you do the more "advanced" Edgelow exercises with the foam roller, triangular wedge etc? My issue is the breathing with spinal motion aggravates my lower back as its twisted up (in part due to the compensations that came with having a wry neck and TOS so long).

Also, i seem to lack focus in doing the belly breathing for more than a while as it seems to give little to no benefit.

Walking for long periods becomes an exercise in muscular tension for me. My different muscles at war with each other.

Its my pec minor which is a huge problem I think, did yours relax thanks to the breathing?

Also, Edgelows, hand to the chin exercise is very hard for me to grasp or do (I seem to apply either too much force or too little). I presume (from your past replies) that it was the breathing exercises that did you the most good.

I dont have the triangular wedge either. It was too big to get so i left it. In hindsight I think it was silly because it seems to teach proper rolling of the neck.