> if you were diagnosed as a teen, it may be what is referred to as
>true neurogenic tos, that is you likely had a congenital abnormality
>dealing with the cervical rib, ie, an extra rib; anyway, if its an
>extra rib you could have surgery to remove it but its not always
>successful;

I don't think it's an extra rib, but it's definately not after an
accident.
I think (from what I can remember) that the space between the first
rib and the collar bone just aren't big enough.

>ive had tos following a car accident, going on 4 long yrs..mine is
>referred to as 'traumatic tos,'.

Yeah, I know about that kind - Ozzy had it briefly after his quad
bike crash.

>there's little treatment for it, i just do stretches, yoga, heat,
>ice, jacuzzi, sauna, massage, have had botox injections into the
>scalene muscles in the neck area, and watch your posture at all
>times...

I do a lot of T'ai Chi, but I'm not really sure what's good and
what's bad for it.

The major problem is that I've never really been told anything about
it, just that I have it.
Today it's really bad, I'm in a lot of pain, my shoulder's barely
movable and the top of my chest is agony.
Unfortunately I'm a temp, so if I don't work, I don't get paid.
So I have to work through it.
Fortunately it's not really affecting my arm at the moment; just the
shoulder, so as long as the shoulder stays in position it should be
ok. I just have to cope with the pain.


>and considering accupunture..ive been told it may get better over
>time, or it may never go away, there's no way to tell..anyway, im a
>lawyer, not a doctor, but i deal with work injuries in my job so i
>have to be familiar with medical conditions and ive studied quite
>abit about this problem...especially since im
> living with it..good luck, we all need it to deal with this..

I'd love to have accupuncture, but I just can't afford it.
I've been told that specialist physio will help, but one shoulder
specialist referred me to physio, and the physiotherapist I got was a
trainee who'd never heard of TOS. I know that some exercises can make
the TOS worse, so I said thanks, but no thanks.
I wasn't going to let a trainee who'd never heard of my condition
make it worse.

What do you do when you're in a lot of pain? That's the main thing I
need help with, I just don't know what to do about it!

Thanks!

Nicola