What Does Physical Therapy After Breast Surgery Look Like?
- thegreenroompt
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
By: Nadine Langsdorf, PT, DPT, LAT, ATC
Why Go to PT?
There are many reasons why someone may have breast surgery. Whether you opt to have a mastectomy after a breast cancer diagnosis, breast augmentation for cosmetic reasons, or a breast reduction to decrease low back pain; PT should be your next step! You may be asking “why?”. In short, to help prevent complications and restore your ability to complete overhead activity.
How Does PT Help?
If you are having a mastectomy due to a cancer diagnosis, you may have already tried other treatment options before opting for the mastectomy. Radiation treatment can lead to tightness of the chest and armpit due to hardening of the tissue. These side effects can cause decreased shoulder motion, weakness, and pain. In this case, physical therapy can be beneficial in decreasing tissue tightness, improving range of motion, and increasing shoulder strength through a progression of manual techniques, stretching, mobility exercises, and then strengthening exercises.
If your motivation for a breast reduction was to decrease low back pain; PT can help to decrease low back pain by strengthening your core. Thus allowing you to return to functional exercises with little to no pain.
If your decision in having breast surgery was for cosmetic reasons, manual therapy is going to be important in your healing process.You will learn how to complete a breast massage to prevent contractures as your tissue heals. Scar massage and cupping will be completed to help the scar and breast tissue remodel and look natural. Physical therapy will combine manual techniques and patient education to give you the best results through your recovery.
When Should I Start?
Physical therapy can start as early as the first week post op. The sooner you can start moving your shoulder and improving your range of motion, the better. You will start by learning how to complete a self breast massage and gentle range of motion exercises. As your healing progresses manual techniques can be used to stretch the tissue, improve shoulder range of motion, prevent contractures, and help the scar heal. As you feel more confident with your motion, strengthening exercises will be implemented to allow you to return to your daily activities and hobbies.
What Does the Research Say?
A trial analysing patients' recovery after breast cancer surgery found that 68% of their patients in the exercise group fully recovered their shoulder strength in the first month compared to 4% in the control group. Another study found significant improvements in upper extremity function over a 6 month period when the patients started range of motion exercises 3 days after surgery and resistance training 4 weeks post-op. Both of these studies demonstrated the importance of early intervention after surgery to regain upper extremity function.
Conclusion
No matter the motivations to have the surgery or your activity level prior to surgery, physical therapy is a beneficial next step to consider in your recovery. The approach of physical therapy is to give you the agency to reach your goals and get the most from your surgery. We want to help you return to the life you want to live and get the best results possible!
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