My Physical Therapist Said - Part 8

How often have you thought you would love to detach one or both of your arms because they hurt so much you just can't stand it any more?

I told my PT about having increased arm pain at a recent appoitment.
I mentined that my daughter and I think it would be great to work on getting a patent for 'the detachable arm.' But I also realise it is quite possible to detach your arm and still feel the arm pain.

My physical therapist said, "Now you're getting into the concepts of pain and the brain in Explain Pain!"
I told him I remembered an episode of House where a man felt excruciating pain in his amputated arm, and the good doctor fixed it by sticking both arms in a box with a miror so he could see both hands clench his fist and release. The brain got the message and his pain was relieved. Pretty cool.

There are elements of this that may apply to those of us living with TOS.
We get set up in a cycle of pain, expecting pain, being used to the pain.
How much of that is our brain being addicted to giving us pain signals, and how much is actual physical distress? The answer to that is very indivdual, each TOSer has a variation of things going on with their symptoms. But I think it is worth thinking about how much of the pain we attribute to TOS is actually from a physical cause, and how much of our 'TOS pain' may be of another nature; ie, our brain controlling the show and overreacting.
It's something to think about.

Don't hang in there & gentle hugs~

Book Review - Explain Pain - Physical Therapist Recommended

Explain Pain, David Butler, G. Lorimer Moseley

I read this book twice, once to get through it, the second time to jot down notes of what resonated with me. I have six pages of notes. I needed to read this book. I was encouraged from reading it that change is possible, even with TOS pain issues.
Here are a  few notes I jotted from the book...(this book was loaned to me-it is a bit pricey).

Pg. 111 "Understand as much as you can about what causes your pain, not just what to do about it. Knowledge is the great pain liberator."

Pg.26  "All pain experiences are a normal response to what your brain thinks is a threat. The amount of pain you feel does not necessarily relate to the amount of tissue damage."

Pg. 11  "When pain persists and feels like it's ruining your life, it is difficult to see how it can be serving any useful purpose. But even when pain is chronic and nasty, it hurts because the brain thinks you are threatened and in danger-the trick is finding out why the brain has come to this conclusion."

  I highly recommend this book to my fellow TOSers. It covers alot of information and has been quite helpful to me. If you can swing the digital kindle version, or even just read the online free sample for starters. There are also youtube videos available by the authors that are informative.

TOS reading - ebook

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/126375816/Thoracic-Outlet-Syndrome

Good, concise information on TOS!
If you're new to TOS and want to understand what is involved in testing, diagnosis and treatment, this is an easy read and will answer most of your questions.

And the winner is...Jen!

Jen, just email me ( rbn4jsus@gmail.com) a shipping address and I will send your new book out to you asap!

To Cole, see tomorrow's post on cervical ribs and TOS to answer your question.

Thank you both for your comments.

My brain fog...your gain! Free book giveaway~

I snapped up a new book at Barnes and Noble on trigger point therapy about a month ago - The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook, Second Edition, by Clair and Amber Davies. 

When I got home I settled into my chair, all ready to read and learn some new techniques.  Two minutes into reading I realized- I already HAVE this exact same book, in paperback!

My paperback copy already has all my sticky tabs and notes (great book, illustrations, very helpful)...so, my dear TOS friends, I decided to have A GIVEAWAY!

I will enable comments just for this giveaway, so if you're interested in entering a drawing for the book, just post a (nice) comment below about what TOS related topics you would like to see addressed on this blog.

I will assign you each a number and have my daughter draw a number from a hat on June 24th! 
I will send the book out to the winner via media mail rate.

I look forward to hearing from you!!

Medifocus Guidebook on Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

To read more about this guidebook, and an article on Pectoralis Minor Syndrome, click here.

5 weeks postop tomorrow~

I spent two back-to-back, insomnia-laden nights reading a book I picked up I thought might help me cheer up...Always Looking up-the adventures of and incurable Optimist, by Michael J. Fox.
Turns out it's not so much a self-help book on how to obtain optimism in your life as it is simply a book about Mr. Foxs' Hollywood and political exploits, and his experience with Parkinsons and personal opinion on embryonic stem cell research.
I'll be donating it to our local library, it's not a keeper for me.
Guess I'll keep looking for that how-to manual on changing ones pessimistic nature into a sunny upbeat outlook:)

This morning I am sore, but its been since yesterday afternoon that I took any pain meds (Advil). Pretty good for taking a tumble over the weekend.

Still sleeping in the recliner, though I've tried sleeping for little bits here and there laying flat on the couch or in bed, and for a little while it's ok.
As long as I don't move that certain way that makes that wierd feeling in my chest where my rib used to be...that pinching feeling that freaks me out and reminds me they actually took a rib bone out of me and gets me to thinking about the gory details of it all.

I watched the tv show about Farrah Fawcett and her battle with cancer over the weekend too. Shes fought so hard to live.
Gives me a different perspective on my puny troubles.
I have my aches and pains, but I do have my life to look forward to.
I need to start living it.
Tonight I'll try sleeping in bed again...with my hubs.
Miss that terribly.

What else?
I am going to drive today.
Two whole miles to a book discussion at the library in town tonight.
It'll be a first in 6 weeks. I'm looking forward to it.

Yeah, I'm stiff, sore, arm still isn't right.
but I gotta plug away doing what I can do, stop focusing on what I can't.
Trust me, when the pain rears its ugly head, what I can't do becomes the only thing I see, brain shuts down.

I havent been doing docs exersizes like I should.
Just the arm walks up the wall.
Today I'll try doing the others.

All-in-all I'm not feeling too bad this morning.
We'll see whats up after the day is over.
I tend to over do it and have regrets.