“TOS most frequently occurs in relatively young, active and otherwise healthy individuals, particularly those engaged in heavy lifting or repetitive overhead use of their arms,” said Dr. Parth Shah, director of the Thoracic Outlet Center in the Hartford HealthCare Heart & Vascular Institute, the only one of its kind in the state.
Basketball players and other athletes performing repetitive overhead arm movements – swimmers, and tennis, baseball, softball and volleyball players – are at increased risk for the neurogenic type of TOS in which the network of nerves sending signals from the spinal cord to the shoulder, arm and hand are compressed and stop functioning properly.
Read more from Hartford HealthCare.
Well-written introduction to thoracic outlet syndrome
Dr. Shah, who I do not yet know, and his staff have written a wonderful introduction to thoracic outlet syndrome. Most authorities find it difficult to lay out the basics of TOS for lay-people. However, Dr. Shah starts with an example, an elite professional basketball player, and then broadens the discussion to show the risk to young healthy people using their arms overhead for work or sport.
The discussion of anatomy and pathology is brief but focused. More detailed discussion of diagnosis and treatment is pertinent and easy to understand. Importantly, Dr. Shah, who is a surgeon, emphasizes the importance of conservative treatment before surgery is undertaken.
Besides the detail about the disease, I applaud Dr. Shah and Hartford HealthCare for helping to grow awareness of this important disease.
Furthermore, the establishment of a multidisciplinary approach utilizing multiple specialists is a welcome revelation to me. I plan to reach out to Dr. Shah to learn more about his approach and his organization. If you have TOS, or suspect you have TOS, and live in Connecticut, it might be well worth your while to do the same.
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I can remember the morning my brother (who is not in the health care field) called me around 6 AM from New York to tell me that Matt Harvey had been diagnosed with TOS. Until then, I didn’t even know my brother had paid attention to me when I talked about my passion for TOS. Since I had been providing services in NY City, and had had discussions with some of the leading TOS specialists there, I made a few phone calls. On a personal level, I did not want to hear that Matt Harvey had TOS. On the professional side, I felt that all my years of experience might serve a hero of mine in a unique way.
I spent most of a day trying to contact care providers and representatives for Matt Harvey to offer my services. Nobody returned calls or emails. I never did have the chance to contribute to Matt Harvey’s care.
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Treatment of TOS remains challenging and controversial in many ways.
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I can remember the morning my brother (who is not in the health care field) called me around 6 AM from New York to tell me that Matt Harvey had been diagnosed with TOS. Until then, I didn’t even know my brother had paid attention to me when I talked about my passion for TOS. Since I had been providing services in NY City, and had had discussions with some of the leading TOS specialists there, I made a few phone calls. On a personal level, I did not want to hear that Matt Harvey had TOS. On the professional side, I felt that all my years of experience might serve a hero of mine in a unique way.
I spent most of a day trying to contact care providers and representatives for Matt Harvey to offer my services. Nobody returned calls or emails. I never did have the chance to contribute to Matt Harvey’s care.
Summary
Summary. Treatment of TOS remains challenging and controversial in many ways.
Summary expanded.
On a personal level, it pains me to see Matt Harvey struggle. He was a tremendous pitcher with a very bright future. Every baseball fan lost something when Matt Harvey suffered these injuries. I hope Matt Harvey can regain some or all of his previously-great talent, though of course I hope he doesn’t do much damage to the Mets!
On a professional level, I don’t know much about the details of his diagnosis or treatment, other than the fact he had a first rib resection. In a later post, I will discuss what we know and what we don’t know about the outcome of this surgery in elite athletes. For now, suffice it to say that the issue remains under intense discussion.
