The importance of cancer rehabilitation after breast surgery

doi:10.15406/jcpcr.2015.03.00093

Journal of

eISSN: 2373-633X

Cancer Prevention & Current Research

News Volume 3 Issue 5

The importance of cancer rehabilitation after breast surgery

Stella Maris Glowinski

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Oncological Rehabilitation, physical mobility and lymphatic linfotaping therapy, Italy

Correspondence: Stella Maris Glowinski, Oncological Rehabilitation, physical mobility and lymphatic linfotaping therapy, Roma, Lazio, Italy

Received: September 19, 2015 | Published: November 27, 2015

Citation: Glowinski SM. The importance of cancer rehabilitation after breast surgery. J Cancer Prev Curr Res. 2015;3(5):340-341. DOI: 10.15406/jcpcr.2015.03.00093

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The woman breast surgery through various emotional states from the moment he receives the news until he decided the way to go for treatment. She goes through so many comparisons and opinions of people who have had their same problem or someone in his family. Arrives at a medical contact to define who will be responsible for his illness. He faces his first visit in an emotional state understandably difficult, with so much fear for what will face and the consequences that will affect both physical and psychological during treatment, and especially if the specialist and the medical facility to which it is assigned is the choice right. As Prof. Umberto Veronesi, breast cancer is removed by the party but not from the mind. It will remain a shadow that will affect the way of life for these women that despite excellent health come to know after doing a mammogram to have a tumor sometimes no longer curable. The disease that changes your life completely, involves the whole family, true friends, work, future projects. Sadness, discouragement, weaknesses and fears that only she will have the strength to overcome and deal with later; questions to which you want to give positive feedback through your mind, think of not making it, and for those who believe opens the hope of healing through prayer. Why to me? How do I do now? As I say to my children? After surgery the breast, which for a woman is the femininity and motherhood, is replaced by a scar that will never go away. Returning home with the operated arm that you cannot move and the physical pain you put in front of this new reality that calls for help and strength to all the people who love you.

Today thankfully the cancer medicine has exceptional people who are physical therapists , who deal with the rehabilitation after cancer breast cancer, which with weekly treatments can restore vigor and life to the free arm of the lymph nodes, returning to near normal its functions . The figure of the rehabilitation therapist is not only working with the physical work also listening to and supporting women in such a way that you can get rid of this weight. His presence becomes important when finished the painful path of devastating chemotherapy treatments, the patient instead of being calm to not having to deal with more, he feels no longer protected and that sense of abandonment is bridged effectively both from a psychological standpoint that the actual benefits the physiotherapist is able to convey with his treatments.

When one works in the womb, can occur in the upper limb motor deficits that block mobility and sensitivity for some time, the pectoral muscle which is inserted into the prosthesis becomes heavy and painful, the scar may form keloids that, without a physiotherapy work hardly subside. In the armpit, if you make emptying creating adhesions that can get to the arm, forearm and hand, causing pain and blocking the extension and rotation of the limb. Sometimes patients are instructed to follow exercises at home when there is such a pain, but making themselves incorrectly, making the situation worse. Follow a rehabilitation protocol increases the sensitivity, creates a natural drainage in the lymphatic vessels, it helps to recover the limb movement and strength, removes adhesions, reduces the visibility of the scar in less time and helps the patient to get rid of emotionally his fears. Among other things, the collaboration between cosmetic surgeon and therapist means that you can correct postural defects that may favor the symmetry between healthy breast and the one in which they intervened. Many times patients are not happy because they have a breast higher and another lower and not the fault of the surgeon but it is certainly a postural deficit that the patient had. Correct posture, remove contractures and strengthen the muscles to better support the prosthesis is also the task of the therapist how to drain the pockets that can be formed for the axillary dissection. The figure of the doctor sees the patient as soon as made, the therapist sees two or three times a week and the following and if you notice any imperfection inform the doctor in time, otherwise there can be major consequences postoperative that until the next check can be irreversible. The surgeons take care about their patients and rely on therapists to follow them, giving them directions and working together to recover quickly and with more control of the physical situation to avoid future inconvenience to the woman and in the worst case scenario further action. Nowadays you may use special techniques such as the lymphatic drainage combined with lympho taping that urges the muscle and the lymphatics working round the clock favoring the faster the elimination of excess liquids, recovering spaces in the fabric for the insertion of implants, strengthen and support the muscles that have been shaken during the intervention and facilitate the formation of fibrosis between the skin and the breast implant. Certainly, the surgeon should we believe the physical therapy as the therapist must be competent and updated to follow this task. The collaboration between these two figures unfortunately still not very widespread in Italy and it would be important to create a synergy between them to make known to the patients after surgery so devastating you can find well-being, have less pain, resume a normal function of the limb, a scar less visible and physical and emotional recovery that can be used to face life with more confidence. Anything can happen and all you can do depends on our will and our ability to make ourselves useful to all women that they deserve hope again.