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Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Upper shoulder i.e. Clavicle region of the top of the shoulder.

F0HYA

Hi, first time on this site for an injury.  Had an injury two years ago, April 2022,  after a swim with our masters club in Wichita.  Did a normal swim with some drills with Kick board and afterwards some dry land workouts including working with a Kettle ball, and stretching too. Was doing seated overhead press with a 10lb kettle ball, and had been doing that drill for about a year but not every day and not every workout.  

The next day I woke up with a severe pain in the upper shoulder, left side, not rotator cuff, but below and around the clavicle area.  Sever pain in that shoulder lifting the arm, swimming was out of the question, doing any pushing down with that shoulder i.e. using arms to stand up or roll out of bed.  

Pain continued for like 9 months, went to my Dr, and a specialist and and PT  no one seemed to know what it was.  Just did lots of stretching  with the arms and shoulder, and limited swimming. 

Was watching Chicago Med a Month ago and some patient came in with the same issues.  Diagnosed as a Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, nailed it same thing that I had or very close to it. 

Googled it and it is a repetitive injury causes Swimming, Weights etc...

Anyone else ever had an issue similar to this. 

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    I watched that episode, too, and my husband and I just turned to each other with that knowing look.  Been there, done that.  Mine was a repetitive work injury, and I had surgery (first rib resection) in 2003.  Unfortunately, the (brilliant!) surgeon who operated on me (in San Diego) is probably no longer alive. He was 71 at the time and retired ten years later.

    TOS is quite difficult to correctly diagnose, because other conditions can mimic it.  In my case, my veins and nerves were affected, so I had a loss of circulation and nerve activity.  I couldn't even lift up my arm to brush my teeth.  If I hadn't been operated on, I would have ended up with paralysis of my left arm.  Although I had TOS bilaterally, it wasn't as bad in my right arm, and I was able to rehabilitate it with PT.

    Following my surgery, I asked my surgeon if I could return to my high school sport of swimming. I hadn't swum regularly since 1979, but I thought it would be great to pick up again.  He said, "Sure!"  Little did he know how far I would go with it.  When I returned to San Diego to visit, I brought him a medal I had won in the 200 butterfly at the Georgia Golden Olympics.  Later, I sent him these videos with my expression of gratitude:

    https://youtu.be/4PJouksr3wI?feature=shared

    https://youtu.be/BfKKZa3uUYM?feature=shared

    I hope you won't have to go through what I did.  Hopefully, PT will work for you.  If not, and you have to have surgery, don't let just anybody operate on you.  Do your research, and make sure your surgeon has done MANY of these operations.  There are a few MLB baseball pitchers over the years who have had operations for this, so perhaps you can find out who their surgeons were.

    Good luck!

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    Hi Thanks for the reply.  It was certainly painful. Fortunetly with time and lots of PT and stretching, no surgery,  all is good now, no more pain or paralysis in the shoulder or arm, have not done kettle ball presses, (lifts) since. Had been swimming for 2 years before it happened several hundreds miles, that year was greatly reduced, but back up to my lap swimming again, no racing just laps, and work on a few strokes, do not tough Butterfly I find no socially redeeming values in the BF, ha.  Indoor rowing now too to supplement the swimming and more workouts. Keep swimming. Thanks

    Arnold