Find a surgeon
Finding an experienced TOS specialist is the single most consequential surgical decision you'll make. These are the resources most consistently cited for identifying surgeons with documented TOS specialization.
Directory
TOS Outreach — Surgeon Finder
Community-compiled directory of TOS surgeons organized by region, with notes on specialization and surgical approach.
Clinical
TOS Outreach — Symptom Reference
Clinical symptom guides and diagnostic information to help patients understand what they're experiencing before a consult.
Support communities
Online communities where TOS patients share experiences, ask questions, and find support. Each has its own culture, and the caveats below matter.
Reddit
r/ThoracicOutletSupport
The primary online community for TOS patients: treatment experiences, surgeon recommendations, peer support, and ongoing discussion. This subreddit is the source for the 382 posts behind the research documents on this site.
Facebook
TOS Facebook Group
Active Facebook support group for TOS patients and families.
Community caveat: some Facebook TOS groups favor pro-surgery perspectives and moderate content accordingly. One user (Post #10) warns that admins may be surgeon-affiliated.
Facebook
TOS Support Group
20,000+ member Facebook group for TOS discussion and support.
Community caveat: same moderation pattern as other Facebook TOS groups, so balance negative surgical experiences against the Reddit community.
Educational resources
Websites and video content on TOS mechanics, conservative treatment, and rehabilitation. These are the sources cited most frequently across the TOS community.
Web
TOS Outreach
Dedicated TOS patient advocacy with clinical information, surgeon directory, and community resources. The most complete patient-facing TOS site.
Web
MSK Neurology — Kjetil Larsen
The most-referenced conservative TOS treatment resource in the community. In-depth clinical writing on diagnosis, anatomy, and non-surgical approaches. The source for much of the serratus-strengthening and scalene-strengthening (not stretching) approach described on the conservative treatment page.
YouTube
Zac Cupples
Physical therapist and PRI practitioner, frequently cited by the TOS community for full-body mechanics and rehabilitation programming.
YouTube
Bill Hartman
Strength coach and rehabilitation specialist. Cited for posture, mechanics, and exercise programming relevant to TOS.
Specialized clinicians
TOS-specific clinical specialties worth knowing about when assembling a treatment team beyond a surgeon.
Research & literature
Peer-reviewed research and scientific literature on TOS, for patients who want to go deeper into the clinical evidence.
Site
TOS Resources — Literature page
600+ peer-reviewed articles from PubMed, searchable by topic, author, or journal. Auto-refreshed monthly via a GitHub Actions workflow that queries seven TOS-specific search terms.
PubMed
PubMed — Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
National Library of Medicine database, with direct access to the full primary literature on TOS.