I’ve got this in my armpit and down into the new reconstructed breast I have. Does anyone have any ideas for self help? I have done exercises, put a hot water bottle on it and wondered if it ever goes. It does look like a hard cord going through my armpit. I didn’t even have any lymph nodes taken out in my armpit which is weird. I had had some out in 2003 when I had my last breast cancer surgery before mastectomy last September.
Seagulls
Did you get to see a physio after your mastectomy? I wonder if you can ask to be referred for some if not? I had quite bad cording after a lumpectomy and high-level node clearance also in September. It’s not completely gone but it’s gradually improving. I am doing the exercises and massaging every day. But the thing that made the most difference was my physio sessions - I had 3 or 4 with a specialist physio who works with the breast surgery team. At one of them she massaged the cording for me for 10-15 mins and I saw a substantial improvement almost straight away. I’ve read about other people feeling their cording kind of ‘pop’ or ‘ping’ with specialist massage.
I had cording in the spots my drains were. Luckily they didn’t inhibit movement much but they were irritating. Massage and stretches did it for me but I had to do it consistently for a while. Even now sometimes they pop up a little but nothing like what it was and some stretches and massages puts it right in a day or so.