Well i first noticed my tos signs about a year ago.

I am 18 yers old now, and believe i got tos from years of stationaery posture on the comp

Immediately i got sharon butlers program and my symptoms went away. Then i stopped doing it for 6 months and they came back again.

However this time when I did the sharon butler stretches i seemed to overstretch when it comes to the "Shoulder Circles"

My symptoms now consist of very tight chest with difficulty fully breathing, slightly numb hands/cold hands, intermediate pain throughout forearms.

Now to note Sharons stretches for the neck have worked wonderfully.

My neck is now quite loose and fluid but the problem is that i cant seem to get my chest muscles to loosen up.

I now know that everytime i do the shoulder circles, whcih she says to do at least 4 times a day, only seems to cause more pain and tighten up my chest muscles.

Doing her neck strectches twice a day have really worked well, and i will drop doing any shoulder circles from now on.

Do you guys have suggestions for how often i should do the chest stretches she has in her TOS guide. She says to do them only twice a day, but i seem to tighten up too quickly.

Should i perhaps do them 3-4 times a day?

And do u have any replacement ideas for the shoulder circles?

Thanks u guys must be the toughest people out there.

Hi Pixel,
I always found for myself too the stretches work great to stay lose, but do not take away a lot of symptoms.
There are a few reasons; one being the development of injured nerves leads to scar matter,, a second; inflamation of nerves means the muscles try to protect them causing spasms; and another, there can be body anomolies that just plane put stress points on. This is such as extra ribs, mis-shappen ribs, chest frame small making a tiniest of spaces for the nerves and vascular to pass through the outlet, or large bone structure making a tight squeeze. Then too there could be vascular or neuro bundles that travel through the WRONG PLACE. Our bodies are not always made perfect, neck scalense can have mis-threaded the entwork of the bundles, or our traps may not have a proper shape to the trapizius catching up brachial plexus bundles.

But, not everyone that ahs anomolies will have TOS, but be predisposed. So like a time bomb waiting for that one twist, one day too long at the computer, one reach to hang a curtain, or one more time to hang laundry etc until TOS flares is monsterous head.

But, as you have been aggressive in preventative measures, I am sure you know about the posture that contributes.I have rounding shoulders from the spasms that are my down fall. I try to keep my shoulders back. I was told about a can of soup in a nylon back pack to encoourage but not overwhelm the traps.

With TOS the loradosis, reverse curve to our neck will conteract with a hump by the C-7 vertabre causing a stress. So tehre is that beast to battle.

So along with streetches, it is not too much stretching, just passive, until you "feel" the pull, then stop the motion, more is not better, but you already know that from the protocol.
But, the traps have triggers so get a tennis ball and work the spots by rolling the ball between your traps and the wall, dig it in to massage. Hot bath, shower in the start of the day is great. I finally got them to reopen my hot tub and it is great. I have a schedule to keep up trigger points in the traps, and then have a great PT gal to work on the spasms.

While not symptoms free, I can be a lot more confortable. I keep down flares, BUT my biggest enemy is the chronic fatigue. I have to nap everyday. It is a full time job taking care of myslef not to flare, let alone take care of my family needs, especially my daughters' mega battle for over 12 1/2 years with TOs since she was 16 yrs old.

Some day, can you post the stretches that have helped you the most?
Glad to have your information you bring and welcome!
Dianne

aright heres a brief story of what happened.

during this summer, i was on my way to a full recovery with TOS. Everything was getting loosened up. But then i decided i wanted to practice the "Shoulder Circles" in sharon butlers program more agressively.

This is when i really overstretched. Basically as u rotate ur shoulder blades backwards and together, they put too much of a strain on my already injured pectoral muscles.

yet i continued to do them agressively. This is when i noticed the inflammation throughout my chest muscles.

I then stopped doing all stretches completely for a month.

Right now, i have been doing my stretches for a month and a half now. My neck muscles used to be realllly tight but now are very loose. However, i now realize wat the problem is.

Whenever i do the shoulder circles, it overstretches my chest muscles, so the previous stretches have little effect on my chest muscles.

I understand now that ANY pain while stretching causes ur muscles to tighten up rather than release.

But this past weeked i did overstretch a little, and will now take a 3 day break. I will then stop doing these shoulder circles as just when im about fully healed, they cause me to take a step back.

On another note I also have serious adhesions in my armpits, which i have released ALOT and now my only real symptoms are from TOS.

I believe that i can fully recover by the end of December if I have no further setbacks.

I dont think i have trigger points either.

It seems that u guys suffered TOS from a car accident or something which is probly why ur symptoms are much worse than mine.

Neways, yea TOS sucks but im gonna beat this once and for all.

i feel if u guys gave sharons stretches a try and take out doing the shoulder circles they will help u tremendously.

Seriously, if i didnt know abotut sharons stretches, i would be so screwed right now.

I wish u all the best of luck tho!

And marie, yea the stretches i do take away alot of my symptoms. Perhaps i have no real nerve damage....

Hi Pixel - and welcome to our forum.

I used Sharon Butlers stretches at my worst {03/05} and still do at times as needed.

I also go to a very good chiropractor and a PT guy was great help when my top ribs & collarbones were stuck and getting pulled up into my throat. {felt that way anyhow}.

Now my main sx I think are some latent TrPs in my upper back muscles and the pec minor adheisons. And of course if I raise my arms forward or up for any length of time or lift certain ways ect.

The adv PT guy gave me a more advanced version of Sharons laying out on the floor stretch.
His idea was to lay on a firm rolled up towel or a 6-8" foam cylinder.
You lay on the roll - along the length of the spine- use a small pillow if needed for neck comfort
knees bent to ease low back pressure

place arms at a comfortable postition and just relax into the gentle stretch

this will open up the chest area, drop the shoulders back and down
with out any active uses from yourself

At my worst times I did this 2-3 x a day for 15 min or more
and still it is my basic thing I do when I feel that I need it.

ah i see what ur saying jo55

so have u pretty much recovered from TOS?

and since u were doing sharons stretches, did u find the shoulder circles were just too much for ur chest muscles when u rotate ur shoulders backwards?

also did u do the stretches like twice a day like instructed or more than that?

and yea thats a pretty good idea ur PT gave u, imma have to try that out.

were there any other stretches you used or variations to sharons stretches that helped u? Im not gonna do the shoulder circles anymore. Do u know of a stretch to replace it perhaps?

man thats cool that you used sharons stretches to help u too so u know what im talking about.

Hi Pixel, I also bought Sharon's TOS book and have just started using it.

My PT encouraged me to do an exercise that was simply:
1. Breathe in, sit up straigh look forward
2. As you breathe out, to sqeeze/pinch shoulder blades together and down in the back (military posture, it is called) like you are making a V on your back
3. Release as you breathe in
Repeat a few times.

It should have some of the effects of the shoulder circles but be more gentle. You might also just try making smaller circles....reducing the stress at each point.

Johanna