I’ve noticed a few post from people having discomfort/pain doing those exercises after surgery.
This is just a thought - I had double WLE and SNB, followed 3 weeks later by some node clearance which was the more invasive surgery. Because I’d done 3 weeks of exercises before the node clearance I found I was nicely loosened up and could continue with the exercises with no problems.
Should we be taught the exercises BEFORE surgery??? I know this isn’t always feasible if surgery is going to be very soon after DX but it could help…
grumpy
Wise old Grumpy… that would have made things so much easier for me, as I couldnt excercise much straight after surgery as I got an infection in my drain…xxx
I did wish that I’d been taught the exercises beforehand, just so I knew what I was doing. All I was given was a stupid booklet, so I remember well standing at home trying to do a bunch of exercises that I didn’t have a clue about. And I irrationally HATED the woman who was pictured on the cover who was flailing her arms about with no problem. But I had good mobility before the surgery, so when I tried to do them (using said booklet) beforehand, it felt a bit silly.
One thing they didn’t tell me (or, at least I didn’t hear) was that it is best not to raise your “affected” arm or arms above shoulder height for a week or ten days. There was a study at Leeds Teaching Hospital that showed a)It seemed to reduce the occurance of lymphoedema and b)It did not effect arm/shoulder mobility one year on do start the exercises later.
Wish I’d known that (not lifting arm too high for first bit) - I did the exercises “religiously” got arm above head within a week - and have lymphoedema now! (snarls quietly)…
Reading these posts brings it all back, just one of many things to worry about after the op.
This was 9 years ago and I was going to have rads after WLE and chemo. I did have physio.My husband came with me and saw the exercises and I did them at home with him supervising, he was better than the professionals. My arm was so stiff and tight and I was really panicing about being able to get my arm into the correct place for my rads. My Onc said “You will just have to get it in the right place!” Not one piece of sympathy, I was so worried. Every night I would lay on my bed trying to get the arm back, massaging it to loosen it up.
The turning point was when I visited the Radiography dept at Mount Vernon to look round and meet the staff, I don’t know if they still do it but they had sort of open evenings. I spoke to a Radiographer and she put my mind at rest, they would help and get the arm in a position that was comfortable,it turned out to be a bit like a Benny Hill salute!!!
It all worked out fine in the end thank goodness!