Hello. My name is Paul and I have been battling tos and now scapular winging for 10 yrs. I will give a more detailed intro after Friday, but I am seeing someone about getting a brace made up. I am a 4th generation Mason(Union bricklayer) and because of a football injury I tore my labrum and after that I was diagnosed TOS.. I believe it was because of how I healed post-op as I was a professional power-lifter and I now know I must of healed different thus causing tos.
At that time (22)I continued laying brick for 8 yrs. because the pain wasn't to bad. It got the point where I had to stop everything 2 yrs. ago. and the 2 yrs. prior to that I could only work 4 months a year.
This has left me in an horrific mental, physical and emotional state that I wouldn't wish upon anyone.
I have been through 4 invasive surgeries and because of the fact that I over developed pecs, I find pt/ot to be too painful now. I am currently finishing up a degree at Wentworth in Boston and it's all I can do to just take the t in and go to class and then right back home to an ice bath. mmm fun.. I don't have the type that requires a 1st rib resection. And because of all the masonry while there wasn't any blood flow they believe as do I that my primary muscles began recruiting the secondary. Causing those horrid spasms and bands to form. Now it only takes opening a car door to set them off..
The main reason I joined this is to just be able to talk with people who understand what kind of hell these syndromes can bring down on us.
FRIDAY I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT TO GET FITTED WITH A BRACE. THIS IS HUGE BECAUSE I DID HAVE A GREAT RESPONSE TO LEUkoTAPING AT SPAULDING HOSPITAL and I AM ASKING IF ANYONE CAN RECOMMEND A BRACE TO KEEP THE SHOULDER IN IT'S CORRECT ANATOMICAL POSITION AS WELL ASKEEPING MY SCAPULAR FROM MOVING WITH MY ARM. I believe that with the correct brace, I can then continue with my exercises.. With the shoulder braced correctly I am HOPING/PRAYING that I can kick start the correct muscles to fire.
So, if anyone has some info with this type of situation, can u plzz write back.
Bless all of you who have this and I pray that through research and support forums like this we can improve our quality of lives.
Sincerely,
Paul d

p.s. sorry for the caps and my erratic writing. sometimes it's difficult for me to express my thought to paper.--- another gift of TOS

Hello & welcome to our forum.

I don't know of any specific type of brace - I think a custom fitted one by someone really knowledgeable should work, I hope it does.
It may take adjustments and readjustments to get it just right.

We did have a fellow with winging scapula that had some ideas -I can't think of his name tonite..

I can look him up in the morning...if someone else hasn't posted his name or links to his posts.

Hello Paul

I have no ideas on the bracing, but wanted to say welcome......from a fellow Bostonian (well, actually, I'm south shore.......Marshfield)

Are you sure that the PT is having you do work that is specifically for TOS ? I ask because my symptoms got much worse after completing 2 courses of PT with weights/etc. I finally found an excellent PT who has TOS herself and really "gets it."

Best of luck finding relief

Dr Tracy Newkirk in San Rafael, CA has designed a brace for TOS. I was tested with it as were many and it did seem to help. I'm not sure where he is with it but my understanding is that it's still in the development stage with a number of people wearing prototypes. I've been waiting for it for a long time. Dr Newkirk retired but maybe you can find a phone number for him and call to inquire. Also, towelhorse, a member here designed his own brace. It's different than Dr Newkirk's one but you could search his postings and find a lot of info about that one.

I wish you luck with finding the right brace. I'll keep my eyes and ears peeled for feedback to send your way.

Welcome,
Have your doctors said anything about an injury to your long thoracic nerve?
If so, we had a member here who shortly after tos surgery was in a car accident and injured her long thoracic nerve resulting in a winging scapula.

She went to Dr Nath and had a successful surgery to correct the winging scapula.

Congratulations on getting your degree.

Best wishes.

http://www.drnathwingingscapula.com/

I'll try to find his postings. Wow, I wonder if it really works? hmmm?
I have designed some altered figure eight braces. But I get complete relief when the bottom of my scapular is pushed in and stabilized.. If you have the same type of pain in the same places then I would recommend using LEUKOTAPING.. IT WORKED MIRACLES FOR ME when I was at Spaulding Rehab. But it costs a lot..
I developed Scapular winging as a result Of being a Bricklayer while I was getting worse with TOS..
Dr. Dellon from the Dellon Institute out of Maryland operated on me after 3 other drs. failed to decompress the brachial plexus, and he did get my blood flowing again along with a pulse. That was in 05 and for 4 months aft the surgery I felt good. But, because I used those primary muscles for soo many years I developed Scapular winging and now another syndrome that I am being tested for now. I guess the short of it is that I am still only able to go outside for no more than 5 hours at a time before I have to ice, heat, rest, and or breathing techniques. It's a horrific lifestyle, but because I have done so much research over the years along with the general knowledge of my own body, I feel that I might be able to strengthen the shoulder girdle while wearing a brace called the SULLY SHOULDER STABILIZER BRACE. I got fitted for it today and will get next week..
If anyone wants to know about braces I know about quite a few. I just wanna help like you people do for me.
Oh thanks again. Have a good one.
Paul

Paul,

Dr Newkirk was never a poster here. If you have a good PT for TOS you can ask to be taped. This should show if a brace could help. A brace that fixes your arm in place is not the type Dr Newkirk designed. Happy continued experimenting!

Hi Finz. I have been to some great tos PT's at Spaulding Hosp. and one other pt that specialized in tos. But It's been awhile since I have seen one. Do You have her name so I can talk to her.
Like yourself, I always ran into a brick wall once the the physical therapy started with weights. I have done about 6 yrs. of extensive research and I feel like I know enough to be a shoulder therapist myself. lol
No really I am glad that I found this forum, but I have a hard time getting used to it. do people trade numbers so they can talk in a more fluid manner as it hurts to type for long periods?
Have a nice day. OK
Paul

Quite a few use a speech recognition software program & a mic - so they don't have to type.
I guess Dragon is the main one out now.

I use to use Via Voice, I keep it around just in case..

some free & trial pgms -
http://www.download.com/Voice-Recogn...-7239_4-0.html
info -
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/so...tion-software/

You do need a decent amount of ram and a decent sound card as well a as good quality mic for the best recognition of your voice.
my motherboards built on sound card did not even see/hear my mic- so I put in my old sound blaster card and it works fine with it.