6 - Investigation of the degree of thoracic outlet syndrome in throwing injuries

Abstract

Purpose:The purpose of this study was to find out the degree of existence of TOS in throwing injury and the influences of its clinical feature on performance. Patients and Methods: 420 outpatients with shoulder and/or elbow injuries (387 men and 23 women, average age 17.1 y) were investigated. They were 102 elementary school, 141 junior high school, 93 senior high school, 63 university students and 21 top adults. We diagnosed players who had tenderness on the supraclavicular fossa and whose Wright and Allen test were positive, with TOS. We calculated the rate of TOS in shoulder and elbow injuries, the distribution of age, and compared clinical features for example CAT, HFT, sulcus sign and power of anterior elevation between TOS and non TOS groups. Results: TOS symptoms were seen in 48.1% of throwing injury patients. Sulcus sign and muscle weakness of anterior elevation was seen in 83% of TOS. Conclusion: TOS symptoms were seen in about half of all cases. Sulcus sign and muscle weakness of anterior elevation was characteristic of TOS. TOS seemed to affect throwing negatively.