Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine is a Toronto naturopathic clinic dedicated to providing safe and effective treatment of a wide variety of health conditions using natural therapies and the principles of naturopathic medicine.
Throacic outlet syndrome is well treated using naturopathic medicine. Thoracic outlet syndrome is a group of disorders that occur when the blood vessels or nerves in your thoracic outlet, the space between your collarbone (clavicle) and your first rib become compressed. Compression may be caused by injury (e.g., automobile accident), repetitive strain (e.g., baseball pitching), poor posture or chronic joint stress (e.g., daily carrying of a heavy backpack). Untreated, thoracic outlet syndrome can cause permanent nerve damage. Professional healthcare should be sought out if you consistently experience symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome.
Symptoms of thoraic outlet syndrome
Possible symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome include:
- Pain in your shoulder and neck
- Pain in your arm or hand (usually of an aching quality)
- Swelling in your arm
- Weakness of your hand grip
- Numbness or tingling in your fingers
- Discoloration (bluish) or pallor (paleness) of your hand or fingers
- Tiny black spots (infarcts) on your fingers
Thoraic outlet syndrome treatment at Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, the goals of thoracic outlet syndrome treatments are significant or complete pain reduction, and prevention of recurrence.
Conventional treatment for thoracic outlet syndrome may include physical therapy or surgery, and anti-inflammatory medications which may have short- or long-term side effects. For this reason, you may choose to try natural treatment to possibly avoid use of conventional medications, or together with conventional medications in order to decrease dosages of conventional medications required to manage your thoracic outlet syndrome symptoms.
Naturopathic treatment of any chronic health concern must be recognized as a process that involves identifying specific treatment goals, a thorough understanding by your naturopathic doctor of all factors affecting your health, including physical, psychological, emotional and lifestyle factors, development of a comprehensive treatment plan and execution of that plan through periodic monitoring and adjustment.
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine a typical approach to treating thoracic outlet syndrome is to first identify and address underlying factors in your lifestyle (e.g., stress causing muscle tension, poor posture). Where appropriate, a number of therapeutic options are available, to be used alone, or more often in a complementary fashion, including:
- Acupuncture
- Bowen Therapy
- SuikodoTM
- Hydrotherapy
- Exercise prescription
- Nutritional supplements
- Botanical (herbal) medicines
- Homeopathic medicines
Reference
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Thoracic outlet syndrome [Online]. [cited 2009 Feb 18]; Available from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/thoracic-outlet-syndrome/DS0080