hia everybody - what exercises do you all actually do? I was given a pretty basic leaflet with 4 exercises on, 2 to do immed in bed and the other 2 “a few days later” but it doesn’t say how often to do them or how long to carry on for…
remember reading gennie’s post re her Larry Grayson-esque walk with arm/elbow position - I think I look like I’ve had a stroke plus my arm being out a bit makes me too wide and I keep banging my arm on things…the fun of it all I know…any tips - aprt from going sideways…;)) Mary x
hi kitten. I was given a sheet with about 10 exercises on and the physio went through them with me. I was told to do them all three times a day for eight weeks after op and then to carry on for as long as I remember. i.e once a day always. Good luck
Hi Mary,
my hospital gave me their “physiotherapy advice after breast surgery” sheet and that had half a dozen exercises. They also gave me Breast Cancer Care’s exercise sheet, which you may be able to download from this site. Then the hospital where I will be having my radiotherapy also gave the their leaflet - but that doesn’t have any different ones.
I had surgery on 26th November and did them as told immediately after. I now do a selection of about 5 of them twice a day. I had problems with my shoulder on my surgery side before dx so now I really do need to keep doing the exercises because of the radiotherapy.
Eliza xx
Hi Mary
I too was given sheet with about 10 exercises on it and was told that the most important one is standing facing the wall and crawl your fingers up, a little higher each day.
I had my op last June and did the exercises a few times a day for months until my arm felt much better. Still do them every day and a colleague who’s 3 years past her op also still does them every day.
I had 24 nodes removed and my arm is back to normal now.
Mal
Hi kitten
Breast Cancer Care publishes a factsheet which covers post operative exercises. Here is the link, this can be either ordered online or downloaded.
breastcancercare.org.uk/server.php?show=conPublication.101
Hope you find this useful.
Kind regards
Louise
thankyou Louise - I thought there would be one somewhere…and cheers girls for the pointers, I was in at 0730 and out by 14.10 and never say any physio so only had the basic leaflet, mary x
omg - there are so many different ones - sooo glad I asked now…
Hey Mary
All you really have to remember about exercising is that you need to get the full range of movement back for rad. For rad you need to be able to lift your arm right above your head and keep it there for 5 minutes. So, a little bit of any kind of stretch movement till you feel you’ve gone to the limit without hurting (or tearing stitches, or having your arm drop off) as often as you feel like it during the day, and keep at it till you’ve got the range back with normal stretchy feelings. I’ve been lax and have just noticed while writing this that I have an ache when I stretch up and backwards. Time to hit the stretching again!
cheers m’dears…mary x
Hi Carole,
Although you only need to be able to keep your arms up for about 5 mins while actually having rads, it is longer for the planning appointment. For that I was told I needed to be able to keep my arms up for about 30 mins and that turned out to be fairly accurate. If you really are having problems they could probably break it up a bit to give you a rest between sections of work but that would then make the whole appointment longer.
Eliza xx
Thanks Eliza
I forgot about the planning appointment. Yes, my BC nurse said it would be about 30 minutes too by the time they get all the tattooing done. Do you get the option of perhaps a bunny or a little swallow or something? 
Hi Carole you get tiny dots!No choice I am afraid but you cant really see them unless you search!