Careful weight lifting may not worsen and may improve LE

tessu

Weight lifting in women with breast-cancer related LE

Hopefully this link works.

Binney4

Thanks, Tessu,

This was a study published in 2009. The media coverage of it inaccurately implied that full-on exercise (specifically weigh lifting) was just fine post-breast cancer treatment. As a result, many doctors and nurses across the country began recommending weight lifting to their patients without restrictions, and even tossed out other risk-reduction practices (like avoiding at-risk arms for blood draws and injections). All in all, it gave those of us with LE a hard time as we sought to exercise wisely and at the same time protect ourselves in our interactions with the healthcare community. (Okay, that last statement is very carefully worded and sounds pretty calm--the resulting furor was NOT calm, and a lot of damage was done to a lot of unsuspecting women. Sigh!)

Many of us pressured the National Lymphedema Network to better articulate the position for the medical community, and StepUp-SpeakOut asked Dr. Schmitz, the lead researcher, to answer our questions as they related to patient care. Her answers are here:

http://www.stepup-speakout.org/Weightlifting%20and...

There is also a website that offers excellent guidance for patients on exercise post-breast cancer here:

http://www.stepup-speakout.org/Handout%20doc%20for...

If you're working with a trainer or an exercise program such as Pilates or yoga, there's a printable article especially for trainers here:

http://www.stepup-speakout.org/Trainer%20doc%20for...

All in all, Katy Schmitz has since become an advocate for CAREFUL use of her studies, and has worked at promoting the reality that weight-lifting is to be started with great care and s-l-o-w-l-y, and that it is not for everyone, since we all respond differently to LE.

Whew! Hope some of that helps.

Onward (carefully)!
Binney

hugz4u

Tes. Thx so much for caring so much to want to post. Exercise is so important. I have to admit I'm not one to tear apart a study but just skim over it. That's why I love the girls here so much. They take the time out to decode these studies. I take their recommendations seriously.

There was a excellent exercise program put out by a university called PAL that one girl here looked at and recommended. It's developed especially for us le people. It is the right way to start exercising and I have done so with zero problems. The key is gradual weight lifting. So I started out with a silly one pound weight even though I was much stronger.

Example: After close to two years I am doing about 7.5 pounds for my triceps. I did have a injury in my hand and so I needed to back off and slowly build up again. This is what PAL suggests. Also if you quit lifting you must start all over again. Good motivation to not quit! Yup I brought my weights on my vaca

If you are in shape and are lifting heavier weights already then you may proceed slowly not starting out with one pound. Keep adding one more pound as you progress. The whole idea is not to tax your lymph system by overdoing it and causing a le flare up and damage.

Hey all! don't forget to jump on the kick butt exercise thread. Everyone can help each other there with exercising. No competition just moving our bodies which is great for le.

Yes some people may not be able to weightlift at all but even lifting your arms a bit is better than nothing. I did this when starting out with flys. Just lifting my arms to chest level then back down again. I have shoulder problems and I will never ever dream of doing flys past one or two pounds. It's not for me

Binney4

Hugz, you're an amazing inspiration!

And yes, the PAL program is the one Katy Schmitz developed for this study. It can be difficult to find a PAL-savvy trainer, so we need to be our own advocates on the exercise front.

I have bilateral LE and find weight lifting works fine for my left arm, but not for my right. So in order to avoid unbalanced strength training I use other exercises that I can do with both arms. Like everything else about LE, it's a lot of trial and error to find workable solutions for each of us. Which is one reason why Hugz is so important to all of us here--she's our one-on-one cheering section and exercise encourager.

Love it!
Binney

Jackiebro

I love u all