Thoracic outlet syndrome relief
Want to know how to get thoracic outlet syndrome relief? This is a story of a patient who was referred into my Chiropractic office in Tempe by his physical therapist with “Thoracic Outlet Syndrome”. I put it in quotes because I feel like he never had thoracic outlet syndrome, he just had a few symptoms of TOS but what he was really suffering from was a pinched nerve in his neck. He first went to his medical doctor for help and this is where he was told that he had thoracic outlet syndrome. He had numbness, burning, and weakness down both arms and into his arm pits. These are some of the symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome or TOS so it is understandable that this condition was suspected. However, a pinched nerve or vertebral subluxation can cause these symptoms as well.
So as standard medical protocol goes he went through a series of x-ray and orthopedic tests to rule out any thing else like a fracture or cardiovascular problem. With all these test negative he was given the diagnosis of TOS. But a pinched nerve or vertebral subluxation was never considered? He was give pain medicines and anti-inflammatory medications to try first. After 4 weeks he returned with no improvement. So the next step in the medical model is to start 4 weeks of Physical therapy.
He did a month of PT and still had no change in symptoms so he returned to his doctor to see what the next step was going to be. After 3 or 4 months of no relief and the same symptoms in his arms and shoulders he asked his doctor if chiropractic might be worth a shot to see if he had a pinched nerve and not TOS. His doctor stated :I do not recommend this as chiropractors do not help conditions like his”. So he was sent back to see a different physical therapist and after he had very little change again after a week they finally suggested that he go get an evaluation from a chiropractor to see if it would help.
I have worked with this physical therapy office before on some other difficult cases. You see at AzSportsCenter they care enough about their patients that if they are not getting the desired results that they will seek out another solution that may be outside of their specialty. It just makes sense, if I have a patient that is not responding to my care I will send them out to a physical therapist or pain management doctor for treatment that I do not perform. That’s the way we should all work and it is unfortunate for my patient that he had to suffer for the last 6 months needlessly.
After 2 visits to my office using specific chiropractic adjustments to his C7 cervical vertebra he is now 80% pain free. I anticipate that he will be 100% pain free within the month. The x-rays that were taken at the medical clinic and at my clinic both showed the same thing, a severe posterior inferior C7 cervical misalignment that was pinching his C7/C8 nerve roots and giving him the TOS “like” symptoms.
The only difference between the medical x-ray and the chiropractic x-ray was who was reading it. A medical x-ray is read and reviewed by a medical doctor or radiologists and their job is to look for tumors, fractures or gross pathology’s. That’s it, if they are not there the x-ray is notes as “Normal”. My job as a chiropractor is to rule out the same stuff but we also look at spinal alignment and posture.
So I am not writing this blog to bash on Medicine, I am writing this to show that if you have been told not to go to a chiropractor or are not getting help with a certain condition you may have to go outside the tradition medical community if they do not have your best interest in mind. Arrogance and selfishness of a medical doctor can delayed and deny the proper treatment of this individual. We all need to work together and do what is in the best interest of our patients and not in the best interest of our bottom line or egos.
If you have or know anyone who has a condition that is not getting better through conventional medical treatment and have not tried chiropractic, I would suggest you seek out a chiropractic opinion and see if they can help. Chiropractors are port of entry providers so that means that you do not need a referral to see us. In our office we will conduct a thorough chiropractic evaluation, neurological assessment, postural assessment, and x-rays to see if you have a chiropractic problem. If so we will offer you our services, if not we will refer you out to the appropriate specialty best suited for your condition.
In Health,
Reed Chiropractic
250 W. Baseline Rd. #107
Tempe AZ 85283
480-785-1355
