Originally Posted by Dontbeamelvin

By the way if pulse goes away when you pinch shoulder blades back this tells me ( once again I'm not a doctor ) that you have pec minor involvement. Why? Because the pic minor actually inserts into the caracoid process which is actually part of the scapula. When you pull them back it actually is tightening that bit of muscle in the front of your chest like a fish fighting you on a fishing line...

This is why I say have some soft tissue work done on your pec. Dry needling the pec minor has been amazing for me. A lot of people with pec minor syndrome also find that their shoulders are unstable and they have some winging of the scapula. Find an expert PT that is able to help stabilize your shoulder joint but also has techniques to loosen up that pic minor. I might guess you have tight traps too, maybe some pain in the scapula area, difficulty turning neck to the painful side?

Originally Posted by Kt400

How do people know it's just arterial or venous when all three go through the same pathway between first rib and collarbone? Wouldn't all three be affected?

Originally Posted by Dontbeamelvin

I honestly don't know how they determine that. A doctor would have to run specific tests. Yes they all run through the thoracic outlet and under the pec minor. My guess is that the reason nerves are more commonly affected is that they aren't as deep as the vascular structures are. Arteries tend to be pretty well protected places in our bodies, along with major veins. This is my guess as to why these two causes are more rare. People with serious venous/arterial TOS typically end up in an ER before they know what TOS even is because of severe swelling/color changes.

This isn't to say that someone with nTOS may not have some construction of the vascular structures and it could get worse over time if patterns aren't corrected...

Originally Posted by Jo*mar

There are also muscle based factors.. hypertrophy /over developed muscles can crowd all the structures and cause a mix of symptoms..
If neck/shoulder muscles are large, maybe a factor?

Past surgeries can cause internal scarring unfortunately...
I'd suggest another career path if having increasing issues from the training time required for a professional..

You can google about past ballplayers & injuries and how they did not last very long at a high level after surgeries..

Low level laser (aka cold/soft) helped for my pain areas..
Inferential stim
Far infra red
those can also work on a cellular level for healing..
links to info on those in useful sticky thread - or web search them..

Originally Posted by Kt400

I noticed that when I'm in throwing position with throwing arm cocked back and engaged while having my head drift forward loosely my pulse goes away completely...

however when I'm in that same throwing position this time with my head stabilized and chin tucked like I'm trying to have a double chin, my pulse comes back!

I'm wondering if this is something I can do while actually throwing and hitting. I hear high level trainers all the time cueing "double chin" when doing lifts such as deadlift squat and bench. Maybe it can work for throwing?!