Weeks 1–2
Pain
Calm the nerve down.
Hands-on techniques and posture adjustments ease the compression and calm the irritation, starting your very first visit.
What We Treat
Thoracic outlet syndrome treatment in Temple.
The numbness that creeps down your arm. The tingling that wakes you up at night. You didn’t imagine it, and you don’t have to live around it. It’s fixable, and it starts with a cause-first evaluation, not a guess.
Sound Familiar?
Does this sound like you?
- Your hand going numb halfway through folding laundry with your arms up
- That pins-and-needles buzz down your arm when you sleep with it above your head
- Reaching for a high shelf and feeling your fingers go tingly before you even grab it
- Carrying a bag on one shoulder and noticing your whole arm ache by the time you reach the car
- Rounding forward at your desk all day, then feeling it radiate down your arm by 3pm
- Shaking out your hand at a stoplight because it’s gone oddly weak or tingly again
Two or more? Keep reading.
Why It Happens
That tingling down your arm is a symptom. Something causes it.
Thoracic outlet syndrome happens when nerves or blood vessels get compressed in the tight space between your collarbone and first rib. It’s usually some mix of a few culprits: rounded, forward shoulder posture that narrows the space. Repetitive overhead motion at work, in sport, or just reaching for the same shelf every day. Scapular muscles that aren’t timing correctly, letting the collarbone drift down onto that space. And tight muscles in the neck and chest crowding the passage even further.
None of that shows up from just describing where the numbness runs. It takes a real, cause-first evaluation to sort out which one is actually driving your symptoms. That’s why generic stretches so often fall short: they treat the tingling, not the mechanics behind it. Find the real cause, and the fix gets obvious.
The Honest Truth
Waiting on a nerve doesn’t make it wait on you.
If you keep waiting
- Numbness starts creeping in earlier in the day, not just after activity
- Your grip gets quietly weaker, and you start dropping things without noticing why
- You avoid reaching overhead altogether, and the muscles that should support your shoulder blade get weaker still
If you start this week
- You know the actual cause of the compression by the end of visit one
- Hands-on work and posture correction start easing the pressure right away
- You get a plan with an endpoint: real relief, not a lifetime of avoiding overhead shelves
Nobody regrets starting too early. Every week, someone in our clinic says they regret waiting.
How We Fix It
The same four phases. Built for your nerve.
Every plan has an endpoint. Here’s what the four phases look like for thoracic outlet syndrome.
Weeks 2–6
Prime
Open up the space.
Targeted mobility work restores space between your collarbone and first rib, so nerves and vessels stop getting pinched.
Weeks 6–10
Perform
Build scapular control that holds.
Progressive strengthening trains your scapular muscles to keep that space open under real load.
Weeks 10+
Prevent
Return better than before.
Overhead reaching and repetitive motion get tested under real conditions before you’re cleared to go all-in: that’s the endpoint, not just another appointment.
Bret sought to understand me and help me. He quickly identified my primary problem and helped me start fixing it. Bret explored how my immediate scapular problem was related to foundational issues I’ve had in sport-training and everyday-life movements.
Cort S. · Scapular & nerve mechanics
Week 1: couldn’t reach the top shelf without my hand going numb
Week 8: sleeping through the night without my arm falling asleep
Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
8 weeks
Questions, Answered
What people ask before booking for thoracic outlet syndrome.
Not always, and it’s worth telling apart. A pinched nerve in the neck and thoracic outlet syndrome can feel similar, numbness and tingling down the arm, but they come from different spots and respond to different treatment. A cause-first evaluation sorts out exactly where the compression is actually happening, so we’re treating the right spot from visit one.
Usually not as a first step. Most thoracic outlet syndrome is mechanical, driven by posture and scapular timing, and responds well to a movement-based evaluation. Scans and vascular studies get reserved for the smaller number of cases where we suspect true vascular involvement, and we’ll flag that for you right away if we see it.
Most patients feel meaningful change within 4–6 visits. A full plan for thoracic outlet syndrome runs through all four phases, Pain, Prime, Perform, and Prevent, typically over 8–10 weeks, depending on how long you’ve been dealing with it. Either way, you get a plan with an endpoint: you’ll always know which phase you’re in and what’s left, not an open-ended string of appointments.
Book Your Visit
Ready when you are.
Request a time and a real person calls you back, usually within two business hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.
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Hours
Mon 10 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Tue 8 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Wed 8 AM–12 PM, 4–7 PM
Thu 8 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Fri, Sat, Sun: Closed - 512-763-0526 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
- Same-week appointments available
5.0 · 195+ Google reviews
Typical response: under 2 business hours
Step 1 of 5
Request sent.
That’s the hard part done. We’ll call during business hours to lock in your time. Most people are on the schedule same week.
Visit Us
Care this good, this close.
Gardner Sports Physical Therapy
- 2329 S 57th St, Temple, TX 76504 (opens in a new tab)
- 512-763-0526
- Fax: 737-237-0793
- bret@gardnersportspt.com
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Mon 10 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Tue 8 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Wed 8 AM–12 PM, 4–7 PM
Thu 8 AM–12 PM, 1–7 PM
Fri, Sat, Sun: Closed