Prior to the car accident, I was probably an 8 on the health scale. Cooked almost everything from scratch, exercised daily as well as had one job that required a lot of walking and another that required physical strength at times. Then I was in the car accident, had a work injury to the bottoms of my feet two months later, and everything was downhill from there. Just like Victoria, I was a size 4 and had finally come to a point in life where I was satisfied with my body. I gained some weight that first winter, but then it fell off due to long runs of prednisone. Now I'm probably between a size 4 and a 6, but I am super flabby and finally have discovered with cellulite is! Because of my bad feet, I have a hard time walking/standing, and the TOS as well as my damaged neck muscles make upper body strengthening incredibly difficult. In fact, I was doing a lot of upper body strengthening recovering from my car accident when the TOS hit. Push-ups, exercise bands, weights, the whole bit. Apparently my neck did not like that! Sigh, this is depressing... I'm thinking about all I was able to do just two years ago and what hell my life has turned into... who cares what size my body is when it screams in pain this often and doesn't let me do anything with it?!?!?

Melissa

Good thread!
I would say I'm about a 5.5 right now. Not obese, but need to drop 10-15 lbs I think. When I hurt my shoulder (7.5yrs ago), I would say I was an 8 or 9- 2 hours a day 6 days a week in the gym.... I did 30-45 min of cardio no problem, and had a good weightlifiting regiment. I weighed 160 and was bench pressing 245. And then I hurt my shoulder. Shouder injury + over-development of pec's led my shoulders to hunch forward drastically. Mis-diagnosis of shoulder injury for 6 yrs led me to change how I did anything to avoid tweaking my shoulder (that pain and my arm getting numb should have been a sign, huh??? dumb meathead ) Oh, add the fact that I have a "short" trunk, and everything was already compressed - I just added to it!

I currently do 20-30 min of cardio before work, 5 days a week. I do some limited weights - if and only if I feel I can. I used to have the mentality of no pain, no gain, and that I should work through the pain. Dumb idea, and probably increased my probelms. oh well.

dabbo: so you're doing quite a lot of exercise and still have TOS problems. That's pretty interesting to me. I wonder why TOS can't be cured with just regular exercise. Have you tried any postural therapy or maybe some sort of muscular or nerve release like myofascial massage or hellerwork?

TOS can be created or aggravated by over developed upper body muscles - the muscles get enlarged and take up much of that space needed for the nerves and blood flow.

This is how my DC explained some of it to me
-when the nerves or /vascular supply are impinged or compressed - it messes up the signals to the muscles as well as the supply of blood and cell nutrients. That's why we will get the spasms and triggerpoints.
Our muscles aren't able to be used as normal anymore - until those compressions are removed.

Exercise-IMO
You have to be very careful to work the correct muscle/groups when doing exercises so as to not over work or over develop the wrong muscles.

I think a lot of it depends on how soon you can catch it - or catch on to it

Drs kind of confuse us because they usually focus on general RSI type of dx.{ carpal tunnel, cubital tunnel, tendinitis, strains}
Depending on where sx show up first, or focusing on the C spine or shoulder if that is where the sx shows first.
And then they won't look outside the box when more sx start to show up!!
in my case anyway.

JalRidge- i'm not sure that it could be cured by exercise, but for me at least, 20-30 min on the elliptical does wonders for my pain... for a little while that is. I think that i'm stuck inbetween a rock and a hard place when it comes to weights- I can't let my chest muscles NOT work (then turn flabby) and I still need to strengthen my back, but doing too much or using bad form with back exercises is 110% guaranteed that i'll flare.

I'm going to start going to Feldenkrais ATM classes in Oct... when the only teacher in memphis gets back from studying Feldenkrais in MAUI!!! lucky! as far as musclework/myofacial release, my PM doc gave me the name of a chiropractor in town that does all that Cole Pain Therapy Group. I go see him next friday, so we'll see. I like that they specifically state they like to try and work WITH the standard MD in a well-rounded approach. I'll let y'all know how it works out with them.

Jo- i think you're 100% right about muscles taking up that space that my freakin BP nerves need!! stupid meathead that I was!!!!

The problem I am having now is that I have been told NOT to do any exercises. I am very frustrated because I'm not getting any better. I'm going to call my local doc on monday to see if Ican do SOMETHING. I don't want to aggravate it but doing nothing is not helping. He has deferred to Dr. Togut, who said rest it. I may also call him. I'm feeling deflated. Don't know what to do!

LinJane: certainly going for a walk around the neighborhood for 30 minutes a day would help immensely. (?)

I walk up and down 4 flights of stairs with about 4 loads of laundry a day. Also take kids to and from sports, plus work a part time job. I understand what you are saying about going for a walk, but, believe me, I am not sedintary(?) I have a very active life style just not a normal routine. We all do what we can.

I'm sorry, but I m a very active person. My comment about not exercising was because I feel there should be something for me to do proactively. Also, I have had the joints from my big toes removed. Walking for 30 minutes in my neighborhood is not always an option. I have had multiple surgeries on both feet. I want something to do for the TOS. Walking is not the answer.

If its not the answer its not the answer.

Sounds like you're pretty stressed out....