POST SURGICAL ARM EXERCISE GUIDE
Exercise
When you leave the hospital or ambulatory care center you should be given arm exercises. We cannot stress enough how important these are to do. The arm exercises ensure that you do not lose any mobility in your arm. Many nerves were severed and they can tighten up while they are healing. If they tighten up while you are keeping your arm immobile then you risk getting what is known as a ‘frozen shoulder’ or an arm you can’t move.
The exercises also reduce the pain you may feel post surgically. There will be residual lightening bolts of pain that come and go like a quick zap, for a couple of years after your surgery. These are perfectly normal. There is an achiness in the shoulder blade that is quite painful and the best thing for it is to keep moving by doing your exercises. However, you may always feel an
achiness in your shoulder from time to time. It is nothing to be concerned about.
Stretching and an anti-inflammatory help to ease discomfort. However, you should check with your doctor before taking any medication.
The best exercises are started slowly and you build them up with time.
They include:
Get a ball that has ‘give’ to it but not a lot. It should fit in your hand. Hold your arm higher than your heart and your hand facing up, gently squeeze it. Build up repetitions based on how you feel.
Cross one arm over the other with elbows at shoulder height. Touch your fingers to your elbows and then push your arms open by having your elbows back - put
emphasis on contracting the shoulder blades.
Repeat with the other arm on top.
The Spider Crawl
Stand in front of a wall. Bend your forearms up and lean them against the wall.
Slowly, like a spider, crawl your fingers up the wall until you feel a stretch and feel you cannot go any further. Hold that stretch for a couple of seconds. The more you do this the higher you will be able to go.
Do as many reps as you can, increasing the number of repetitions slowly as you start to tolerate more.
The Praying Mantis
Stand with your arms at straight out in front of you, put your palms together as if you were praying. Then interlock your fingers and slowly raise you arms up over your head. GO SLOWLY. Gently, and as best you can, bring your hands to the back of your neck and then close your elbows together so that your elbows are sticking out from your chin. Do this slowly. If you feel sharp pain stop and try
again later.
Exercise Preserves Freedom of Movement After Breast Cancer Surgery
Washington, June 16 (ANI): A study has found that exercise can help patients maintain shoulder movement and minimize loss of arm or shoulder function after breast cancer surgery.
The new Cochrane review found exercise programs needed to be created to help patients who have just had surgery, as most survivors develop pain, shoulder stiffness and arm swelling after treatment.
Physicians usually prescribe arm and shoulder exercises after surgery to prevent pain and stiffness in those areas on the side of the cancer, but the problems often persist for years.
"There has been some concern that too much aggressive movement soon after surgery might cause pain, delay healing, and increase the risk of arm swelling," said lead review author Margaret McNeely, an assistant professor of physical therapy at the University of Alberta and clinical researcher at the Cross Cancer Institute, in Canada.
McNeely's team examined 24 research studies comprising 2,132 women with a confirmed breast cancer diagnosis and who had undergone surgery such as a radical mastectomy, modified radical mastectomy, or a local wide excision or lumpectomy.
They had also all had surgery removing lymph nodes from the axilla, or armpit, to determine the extent of the cancer.
Specially designed programs included range-of-motion movements for the shoulders and stretching exercises.
The review showed that starting exercise early after surgery, within the first to third day, might result in better shoulder movement in the early weeks following surgery.
"However, starting exercise that soon after surgery may cause more wound drainage and require drains to remain in place longer than if exercise is delayed by about one week," McNeely said.
The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research, published the review.
Fourteen studies compared the effect of structured exercise to usual care, in which women received an exercise pamphlet or no exercise instruction at all.
Of these, structured programs including physical therapy regimens in the early postoperative period led to a significant improvement in shoulder range of motion over the short and long term.
"Several persistent complications can greatly diminish a patient's quality of life," said Douglas Blayney, M.D., medical director at the University of Michigan's Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Blayney said that although current surgical treatment is attempting to move away from disturbing the axilla, more women, especially younger women, are choosing mastectomy over breast conserving surgery.
"Combined, these trends in primary treatment of breast cancer make this review highly relevant," said Blayney, who has no affiliation with the review.
Nevertheless, he noted that making suitable exercise programs widely available to breast cancer patients in a timely manner would be a challenge.
He said optimal breast cancer care now involves a team with a wide range of health specialists: surgeons, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, reconstructive surgeons and others.
"This review demonstrates that early involvement of a new team member who manages exercise or physical therapy is also useful for the best outcome," he said.
"Implementation of modern primary treatment strategies - - including early intervention with suitable exercises - should reduce the incidence of these heartbreaking complications," Blayney added. (ANI)
Washington, June 16 (ANI): A study has found that exercise can help patients maintain shoulder movement and minimize loss of arm or shoulder function after breast cancer surgery.
The new Cochrane review found exercise programs needed to be created to help patients who have just had surgery, as most survivors develop pain, shoulder stiffness and arm swelling after treatment.
Physicians usually prescribe arm and shoulder exercises after surgery to prevent pain and stiffness in those areas on the side of the cancer, but the problems often persist for years.
"There has been some concern that too much aggressive movement soon after surgery might cause pain, delay healing, and increase the risk of arm swelling," said lead review author Margaret McNeely, an assistant professor of physical therapy at the University of Alberta and clinical researcher at the Cross Cancer Institute, in Canada.
McNeely's team examined 24 research studies comprising 2,132 women with a confirmed breast cancer diagnosis and who had undergone surgery such as a radical mastectomy, modified radical mastectomy, or a local wide excision or lumpectomy.
They had also all had surgery removing lymph nodes from the axilla, or armpit, to determine the extent of the cancer.
Specially designed programs included range-of-motion movements for the shoulders and stretching exercises.
The review showed that starting exercise early after surgery, within the first to third day, might result in better shoulder movement in the early weeks following surgery.
"However, starting exercise that soon after surgery may cause more wound drainage and require drains to remain in place longer than if exercise is delayed by about one week," McNeely said.
The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research, published the review.
Fourteen studies compared the effect of structured exercise to usual care, in which women received an exercise pamphlet or no exercise instruction at all.
Of these, structured programs including physical therapy regimens in the early postoperative period led to a significant improvement in shoulder range of motion over the short and long term.
"Several persistent complications can greatly diminish a patient's quality of life," said Douglas Blayney, M.D., medical director at the University of Michigan's Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Blayney said that although current surgical treatment is attempting to move away from disturbing the axilla, more women, especially younger women, are choosing mastectomy over breast conserving surgery.
"Combined, these trends in primary treatment of breast cancer make this review highly relevant," said Blayney, who has no affiliation with the review.
Nevertheless, he noted that making suitable exercise programs widely available to breast cancer patients in a timely manner would be a challenge.
He said optimal breast cancer care now involves a team with a wide range of health specialists: surgeons, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, reconstructive surgeons and others.
"This review demonstrates that early involvement of a new team member who manages exercise or physical therapy is also useful for the best outcome," he said.
"Implementation of modern primary treatment strategies - - including early intervention with suitable exercises - should reduce the incidence of these heartbreaking complications," Blayney added. (ANI)
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