thoracic outlet syndrome

you would think it was a problem with a car,but no it is the most insidious of problems that is hard to get rid of because of our stellar modern lifetyles.sitting at desks,driving,anything where your arms are up and infront of you with the tendency to push the head forward.

now i have had thoracic outlet syndrome for years(tos for short),it is often mis diagnosed for carpal tunnel syndrome,a lot of the same symptoms,and i tell you having you hands fall asleep while power mousing or grinding as i do at work or the ultimate in rejection having you own hand fall asleep whilst jerking off gets a bit tedious.i have not slept a full night in years partiall due to this,waking up at 2 in the morning,my hands feel like they are touching live power lines(yes i have it on both sides).

tos is caused by 3 main impingment areas.the cervical rib,the scalene muscles and the pectorilas minor.normally people have 12 pairs of ribs coresponding to thine thoracic vertebrae of which there are 12,imagine that,but nature is quirky and some people have 11 pairs of ribs and some have 13 pairs.the 13th pair will either manifest itself off of the first lumbar vertebrae or in the case of tos the 7th cervical vertabrae.the brachial plexus(the nerves enervating thearm) must go over this rib and are very easily impinged,.along the same lines the plexus can be impinged by the clavicle and the first rib especially if you are one of those people who have a sunken chest and let yor shoulders roll forward.i do not have this version.

the next impingment is where the plexus comes through the anteior and middle scalene muscles.the scalene( there are 3 though some have 4) are located on the side of your neck and attach to the 1st and 2nd ribs.they flex and rotate the head elevate the rib cage during inhalation.the nerves get impinged when the scalenes decide to go hypertonic which means the muscle does not relax,stess is one factor that causes this,poor posture and improper breathing paterns are others.i also do not have this one.

impingment by pectoralis minor muscle is my baby.the pec minor attaches from your 3,4 and 5 rib up to your corocoid process on the scapula(shoulder blade) and lies directly beneath the pec major,the big chest muscle.the brachial plexus runs under the pec minor to the inside of the arm and gets impinged when you raise your arms between the pec minor and corocoid process,kind like the nerves are too short and get pulled into a tight spot..

there are myriad reasons why nerves get impinged,small structure,hypertonic muscles,bad genetics,poor posture,trauma and so forth.the reason tos gets mistaken fot carpal tunnel syndrome is the it is the ulnar fibres of the brachial plexus that usally get impinged so it manifests itself as the classic symptoms of carpal tunnel.lots of people get surgery to to enlarge the carpal tunnel only to fin out that it does nothing.body is a funny thing,i go now.