Thoracic outlet syndrome can hit anyone. It can make it impossible to play with your children, difficult to get through your work day, and downright miserable to play the games and sports that you love.

 

If you’re here, you’re probably already quite frustrated with what your doctors and therapists have been telling you about your problem. The answers you get don’t seem to make much sense.

 

You’ve suffered for months or years, and even with the thoracic outlet diagnosis, the surgical treatment seems unnecessarily invasive and risky.

 

Even though you would do anything for relief from the pain, numbness, and cold, something about the whole situation probably feels wrong. After so much struggle, you’re being told that cutting a muscle or removing a bone is the best solution, but your internal alarm bells are ringing.

Back in 2003, I started having major problems with my shoulder, hands, and wrists.

At the peak of my hand and wrist problems, I could not type on a computer for more than a few seconds without paying a heavy price of pain, numbness, and coldness (and the panic that would set in).

The doctors I saw insisted that my symptoms did not fit the description of carpal tunnel syndrome. The wrong fingers were affected, my doctor reassured me. Because it wasn't carpal tunnel, it was clearly just an overuse injury. 

With rest, my doctor said, the tendons of my forearms and hands would heal on their own.

But those problems didn’t heal on their own.

I suffered with that numbness, tingling, and night-time throbbing for years. I set out to solve the problem for myself, since nobody seemed to be able to help me.

After years of struggle, I created the Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Fix to put down everything I've learned into one organized program...

...so I can save you the hassle, frustration, and heartache of trial and error. 

Since 2007, I’ve been working with hundreds of clients with shoulder, hip, back, and knee issues and the muscular problems that underlie them.

I’ve helped countless people overcome shoulder pain, neck pain, and hand pain that was blamed on bone impingement, rotator cuff tears, and labral tears.

For most people, within a few months’ time they could get back to enjoying their lives.

I’m not a crazy voodoo practitioner... and I don’t have magical powers.

I suffered a lot with issues all over my body starting in my teens, so out of necessity I’ve learned a lot about how to train the human body to move right and feel right.

In the medical world, it’s a recognized fact that how you use your body can impact the severity of your symptoms. 

Poor posture and specific repetitive motions can make pain, numbness, and lack of blood flow much worse.

There’s a spot near the front of your shoulder joint called the brachial plexus where a bunch of nerves and blood vessels pass through on their way to feeding your hands.

"My left shoulder was in a constant spasm and the fingers of my left hand were going numb. MRIs had indicated I had cervical spine pathology.

Three different doctors I consulted with expected that surgery would be the only solution and there was not much else I could do..."

"Matt listened to the information the doctors had given me, understood my concerns, and presented me with a very different perspective from what I had already heard.

What was most notable was that he had clearly already considered the other perspectives on my issues and had very well-reasoned notions about why the traditional perspectives may have arisen and how they may be misleading. In the first session with Matt, there was an obvious improvement in my hand and neck symptoms. 

After a month or two I was feeling very good and no longer suffered the distraction of pain and numbness during my busy workdays..."

~ Adam, CEO of Quora.com

If there ever has been a time in human history where a person could completely rest their hands from any work at all, it was not 2003.

I was in college with essays to type, friends to contact (often via computer), and internet searches to get lost in.

I tried doing things that didn't involve typing, but it was a struggle to do even the most basic things without feeling like my hands were being choked and frozen off my body.

Even sitting and playing cards with friends was a challenge; the numbness in my hands made fine movements like grabbing a playing card seem absurdly difficult. I wore gloves to keep my hands warm. I wore Chinese herbal patches all around my forearms to draw out the toxins in my body. I tried countless massages. I tried acupuncture. I saw chiropractors.

 

Everyone seemed to think that if I just rested enough, the problems would go away. With rest, I'd get my fingers back. With rest, the blood would come back to my skinny forearms. With rest, my elbows would no longer zing me with electric shocks whenever I put them down wrong on a hard surface. With rest, I'd be able to go to sleep without feeling throbbing and aching.

 

Rest helped only for as long as I rested. In the long term, it was doing absolutely nothing to improve my symptoms. This was extremely frustrating. And at the same time, it wasn't all that surprising because all the rest I had done for my shoulder still hadn't helped the constant feeling of instability in my shoulder.

Two things helped my thoracic outlet symptoms

The first was seeing a doctor of Chinese medicine who specialized in specific Chinese massage techniques (Tui Na). 

He worked on muscles on my shoulders and then focused a heat lamp on my arms and wrists for 5-10 minutes to improve blood flow. As soon as he massaged the muscles on my shoulder blades, I'd feel like my hands were mine again. I was surprised that he could restore that feeling of "wholeness" like that.

I was excited and heartened, and my mom kept taking me to see him.

Sadly, what I found over time was that the feeling didn't last. I'd feel wonderful - so relieved! - for only as long as I stayed away from the computer keyboard. 

The moment I touched the keyboard, all the sensations would come back again.

I would feel the cold line of tension tugging from my elbow down into my hands, and then all the pain would be back as if I had simply hit a switch.

The second thing that helped was taking massive quantities of B Vitamins. 

I remember trawling the internet, looking for remedies for my problem, and I somehow came across someone suggesting that B vitamins would help with nerve pain. Again, this was 2003, and the internet was not yet full of this kind of information as it is today. But, with little to lose, I went out and bought some B vitamins and started off with my first dose.

I no longer remember which B vitamins I bought, but I do remember they were tiny little tablets, and they worked like magic...I could not believe how effective they were! I could feel the relief spread down into my hands. The cold cable of tension around the elbow and down into the hands would melt away, and I could function!

Not only did I have papers to write, but I also worked in a computer lab, so it was as if I were getting my life back!

 

I kept a supply of B vitamins with me at all times, and whenever I started to feel the cold ache creep back into my arms, I’d pop a pill to make everything okay again.

I tried upping the dosage even more, but the effect was gone. The B vitamins just weren’t working anymore.

Over time, I stumbled upon bits and pieces of the puzzle. Ultimately I found out that, as I suspected, muscles made all the difference in the world.

By working on my muscles in particular way, it was possible to make my problems better - or worse! By loosening up some muscles, symptoms in seemingly unrelated parts of the body could go away! Loosening up muscles on the front of my chest made instability in my shoulder feel noticeably better!

I could start seeing my veins on my forearms again - a clear visual sign that there was blood coming back into my hands!

Too much focus on massage work - while massage work can definitely be helpful, it is not going to solve your problem

Too much focus on stretching - while stretching can be an important component of establishing good shoulder position, it will not ensure perfect shoulder blade positioning

Too much focus on the wrong muscles - if you’ve spent hours stretching your scalenes and hours doing shoulder rolls, you’ve already experienced this frustration

Not using enough resistance - you can't improve your situation without building strength, and you can't build strength without resistance

Not paying attention to muscle balance - all the muscles around the back, neck, and shoulder can impact comfort levels and the function

For example, if you look at rehabilitation protocols...

Like this one: The Thoracic Outlet Syndrome: A Protocol of Treatment

Or this one: Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Treatment & Management

You’ll notice that a lot of attention is placed on passive treatments like massage and ultrasound (which doesn’t do anything to actually improve your ability to use the right muscles). And in even if the ultrasound does something to “heal” the muscles it’s placed on, you still aren’t training your body to hold the right positions to avoid further irritation.

Massage can be helpful to relieve tension temporarily, but it doesn’t retrain muscles to do their jobs properly. 

If you look at a rehabilitation protocol like this one: Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Exercises...

You see a program that focuses on stretching the scalenes and the pectoral muscles, but then totally falls short in building strength to maintain better posture and a more open brachial plexus. The few exercises listed to build some strength qualify as remedial exercises that are really only a starting point for how you train your body.

These are common strategies for thoracic outlet, and they are destined to fail and frustrate.

 "My life has drastically improved"

- Cinna, Software Engineer

"Three years ago, I started working at my first desk job as an engineer. I started to experience a lot of neck, shoulder and hip pain. At one point, I seriously considered quitting my job and doing a complete career change which did not involve sitting or computers. After nearly 10 months of trying everything, my friend recommended Upright Health, and after the first session, I felt a noticeable difference. After 4 months, the pain was 95% gone, and I have been able to continue working at my job with no problems."

"Within a few weeks, things started to change!"

-Craig, I.T. Professional

"I’m kind of hunched over a lot from the course of my work. I’m a weekend warrior, and I ride my bike a lot. When I ride my bike, I’m hunched over a lot. I was having problems for a long time with my right shoulder. I couldn’t hold my arm up and forward without starting to get really bad spasms. I would have spasms that would double me over in pain. I couldn’t lift my arm by itself. I had C6 and C7 fused. I was told the surgery would make it all better, but it didn’t take care of my shoulder. It wasn’t until I came to Matt at Upright Health that I started to learn that a lot of this stuff is just retraining muscles to pull things back where they’re supposed to be. Within a few weeks, things started to change! You can waste lots of time getting injections and surgery, but you can avoid a lot of that just by working with Matt at Upright Health."

 

 

It really is possible to retrain your body to relieve your pain and discomfort.

This may be hard to believe. You may have been told that it’s impossible to fix your problem.

But you need to take this to heart now. It is doable.

Remember: it’s possible for you to make the problem worse by positioning your body poorly. Over time, as muscles have atrophied and allowed you to sink into worse and worse positions, you have gotten more and more sensitized and been put into more and more pain.

Rest doesn’t address the problem. Rest just lets your muscles get into worse positions.

General exercises don't fix anything. You have to do the right exercises.

If you can do things to gradually make your problems worse, then you can work to actively reverse that process.

 

And that’s what The Shoulder Fix will help you do.

The Shoulder Fix is based on my own personal experience dealing with symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome and helping others overcome issues related to shoulder dysfunction.

The Shoulder Fix TOS Edition AKA The TOS Fix comes with follow along workouts and a straightforward schedule that helps you start fixing things fast. 

• A first-aid workout that can be done virtually anywhere to quickly relieve shoulder, neck, and hand discomfort
• Two routines to improve hand and wrist flexibility, reduce nerve-like pain, and build long term strength in the wrists and forearms
• Two levels of corrective workouts that build strength in the key weak muscles that lead to thoracic outlet symptoms
• A twice-a-week full-body strength workout that builds and maintains whole-body strength and flexibility

This Thoracic Outlet program includes:

• A simple, straightforward program with simple follow-along massage and daily corrective workouts
• A 10 minute workout with NO EQUIPMENT you can do ANY time you feel symptoms during the workday
• Special wrist and forearm exercises to keep your hands and wrists happy 
• A simple full body strength workout to fix your posture and address the root causes of TOS symptoms
• And when you want to build even more shoulder health, you get full access to the Shoulder Fix program! 

"Upright Health does what the traditional medical model does not – treating the root cause of conditions with lifestyle changes."

-Kyle M., Real Student of the Shoulder Fix

I’m only 23 but I’ve struggled with Thoracic Outlet syndrome for the last 4 years – constant neck, shoulder, back, elbow discomfort and tingling all the way down my arm into my hand.

I couldn’t weight lift, which I desperately wanted to do. I went to orthopedic doctors, chiropractors, sports performance specialists, and not only did nothing work, these professionals could not diagnose the issue.

Then I met with one of the top “thoracic outlet syndrome specialists” in the country and was diagnosed with TOS. After only meeting with me one time, I became a candidate for surgery, with the option of removing two muscles in my upper chest and neck, as well as one of my ribs. I immediately went online and searched “alternative treatment for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome” and that’s where I came across Upright Health.

I found the Shoulder Fix program, bought it, and started that night. It was the best money I’ve ever spent.

I swear to god I felt better after the first session. The rest is history – I’m lifting again without shoulder/neck discomfort or tingling.
 
I was confused as to why I was not given this option when I saw the TOS specialist so I called and told them about my success without the surgery, but they didn’t want to hear it.

Maybe that has something to do with the fact that they’re making hundreds of thousands of dollars off these surgeries.

Upright Health does what the traditional medical model does not – treating the root cause of conditions with lifestyle changes.

Upright Health empowered me to heal my body by working in alignment with my natural musculoskeletal system without risky drugs or surgery – and for that, I am grateful.

An hour with a therapist who will probably waste your time with gentle stretches and massage can easily cost $80-150 per session. With insurance, maybe your co-pay is $20-40, but your time gets wasted over multiple sessions that get you zero relief.

You could see a chiropractor for three months and pay a couple thousand dollars over that time to get temporary relief every appointment...and be left wondering how you'll ever get long term relief.

An hour with me would cost you over $400 for the first session. That doesn't include the important follow-up sessions to help you continue to make progress over time. This would cost thousands of dollars in the end, and I'd be hounding you to rely on yourself more so you stop having to pay me (because my time isn't cheap!).

Surgery could cost you THOUSANDS of dollars. If you have great insurance, it may cost less, but the results are FAR from guaranteed., and you have tons of downside risk. Recent studies show the long-term results are pretty terrible (to say nothing of the recovery time and potential for opiate addiction). 

 

My goal is to help as many people as possible all over the world, so THE SHOULDER FIX TOS Edition is designed to be maximally effective and still cost you less than any of those other options!

 

START FOR A ONE-TIME PAYMENT OF $149