I just attended a two day Specialist Certification for TOS. What’s TOS?! Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. That’s a mouthful. Well, actually it’s a neck, shoulder and armFUL. Full of pain. It can result from repetitive motion – like spending too many hours at computor keyboard or pitching baseballs, swinging golfballs, accidents, stress, and injury.
What really blew me away was the realization that this is exactly how my fibromyalgia started. I had excruciating arm, neck and face pain. It wasn’t from repetitive movement, mine was from repetitive STRESS. During the training I learned from Art Ando, a physical therapist,that if I had had physical therapy treatment it might have stopped the progression of my fibro symptoms. Ouch – I don’t know what hurts more – my fibro pain or the knowledge there might have been treatment that I never knew about.
If you have pain in your upper torso, the neck, shoulders, arms, http://www.andoaston.com/ is a good resource for physical therapy.. And you can check out the TOSS (Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Society) website for more information and resources.
www.TOSSociety.org
PS. Thank you to Phil La Puma and Rhona Jordan for putting together the training and to Cyndy La Puma for turning her TOS pain into help for others.