← Return to Neck arm chest pains
Discussion
Brain & Nervous System | Last Active: Jan 31, 2019 | Replies (5)
Comment receiving replies
Replies to "Unfortunately I am relying on military doctors. Took them forever to take me seriously about having..."
@wawryk01 You are going to have to advocate for yourself. Learn as much as you can so you can ask specific questions. If you have TOS, it could be a work related injury with your military service. Usually physical therapy is the best way to treat it. There is surgery for it, but that can make it worse by forming scar tissue that just perpetuates the problem. The surgical success is about 60% as told to me. Good posture is important. I've just read that there is a case of TOS causing a person to pass out because of altered blood flow just by turning their head. At Mayo, my neurologist listened to my pulse on the front of my neck near the collar bone, and heard it stop when I turned my head to the side. You can ask them to do that test. Another test is where they hold your arm to the side with bent elbow and raise it while feeling your pulse and they find a position that stops the pulse. Mayo did a test like that with tiny blood pressure cuffs on my fingers taking measurements. I also had an MRI of the brachial plexus area that showed edema in the scalene muscles that are at the side of the neck. People with a longer neck are more disposed to this problem because the collar bones are lower (so the neck looks longer), so there is less room under them where the nerves pass between the collar bone and rib cage.
Here is a website for a physical therapy training & rehab that explains a lot about TOS. He also has a facebook page and discusses his findings on there. He has several articles related to rehabbing that you might find interesting. https://trainingandrehabilitation.com/how-truly-treat-thoracic-outlet-syndrome/
I hope you'll check back in later and let us know about your progress.