Weight Training Post Lymph Node Removal

PurpleMe: I've been doing it, and I have had difficulty with mild LE.  Weight limits, reps etc are good questions.  Unfortunately, what I have found is that every LE therapist, website, etc has a different opinion and the literature is scant.  Actually, good literature on lymphedema is scant, information on getting truly active women back to doing what they want to do even more scant.  Opinions abound, good research scarce.  The good news is, most recent info seems to agree that if you've already been active and lifting you should be able to get back to it.  Less clear if those that never lifted will be able to heavy lift. 

So, I can only tell you what I decided, when I realized how little guidance there was.  I started with low weights, (e.g. 5 lbs when it used to be 25) and 2 sets of 8 reps.  I then went up a couple of reps in each set each time I lifted.  When I get up to 18 reps and I'm not having any swelling,  I go up on the weight and start down at 8 reps in each set again.  As far as going up on the weight, it has depended on what I was doing.  2.5 on things like biceps or delts, closer to 7-10 on pull downs. I also only go up on weight on one "station"  a day.

I just watch closely, if I get arm tingling, heaviness, etc. some of those symptoms they now think may be early signs, I back down again.  I've just tried to take it slow and easy and be happy I was lifting.  It can be very frustrating.  I do have a sleeve, but as I said I have had some mild LE that did get better and I'm trying to keep from worsening.  There was just a lot of back and forth on another thread about the wisdom of wearing a sleeve to prevent LE developing if you haven't had it.  Can't remember the thread.

Good luck, do me a favor and let me know how you do and what works for you.   

I wondered the same thing....a fellow bc sister and I have the same onc and they work out at the same gym...anyway she asked our onc about lifting weights, and was told anything 10 lbs are lower is fine.

I had a bilateral mast with reconstruction and chest wall patch( had to have patch cause they could not stretch it ) had 6 nodes removed and have finally worked up to my pre-surgery weights I am not a weight lifter but am pretty strong. It has been 2 years, so it was a slow process I took it easy.

Heard that swimming is good to encourage proper lymph drainage too..

IvoryMom, would you mind popping in now and then and let us know how it is going?  For all of the info out there about how important exercise is for breast cancer patients, I have to say, good information, not dogma or what happened to one patient, but good information about running/yoga etc. with TE's, running with implants, weight lifting and lymphedema etc is almost non-existent.  It is all anectdotal and no way it is good or we wouldn't have so many different answers depending on who our doc is.  Came across something about never doing downward dog pose in yoga because its bad for LE.  Can not see any anatomic or physiologic reason that is worse then heavy weights, which obviously some are doing.

So, we're really dependent on each other for information when it comes to getting back to what we did before.  

Actually that study was preliminary and the results of the more extensive study that grew from it have just been published this year--more study subjects for this one. You can read the abstract here:

http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/concli/article/PIIS1551714409000020/abstract

The safe practices y'all have already mentioned are important in this study as well -- progressing slowly; stopping and elevating your arm when you sense achiness, tiingling, heaviness or just "odd" feelings. It can be especially helpful for your future well-being to insist on a referral for an evaluation by a fully-trained lymphedema therapist, who can do baseline arm measurements for future reference, teach you a gentle prophylactic lymph massage, give you personalized risk reduction tips, and fit you for compression garments to use prophylactically.

Downward dog adds a dimension of gravity to the weight issue that can flood and overwhelm a compromised lymph system. Your call, of course, but there is a good deal of anecdotal evidence about that one. (Naturally it would be everybody's favorite!)

Be well,
Binney

Awesome, I've been able to go up on the weights too.  Being careful, but recovering from that last surgery and now being able to do things without having the next phase of treatment hanging over my head makes me feel so good, I keep wanting to do more

Hey London, I used to scull before !@#$ hit the fan now I have bumped it up and am rowing in an 8 ( will be racing in the women's 4 in sunshine states this weekend I am sooo psyched !!)

There also might be dragon boating possibilities ... I will be doing that too they are in the process of getting one up and running here in Orlando ! Dang the problem with bc diagnosis is one tries to squeeze in soo many activities once over the hump it is a bit hard to work !! hehe..

Let me know if you have any questions on rowing I had heard that Harvard did a study on bc patients who had surgery rowing and the studies were very promising did not lead to lymphedema.

I recently joined a gym. My trainer tells me I shouldn't do any of the resistance machine with weights that work on the pectoralis major because it will tighten the muscle too much over my implant from my reconstruction. Has anyone else heard of this? I'm doing other things for my triceps and biceps.

Hi ladies! I am so glad I found this thread.  I am still going through chemo but am trying to work out as I feel up to it.  I was so frustrated about the lack of info on weight training guidelines after surgery.  I'm really not trying to build strentgh right now but your tips will be great once I'm cut loose from restrictions.  My left side, surgery side, is so much weaker than the right that I'll just be happy to have it catch up at this point!

Purple me - thanks for the well wishes.  So far the chemo is going well. Very minimal side effects, mostly just fatigue, and within a few days I fell almost normal. 

Question for the group - are you wearing a compression sleeve while working out?  Where is the best place to get one?  Thanks!

I had started out going to a specialist for a lymphodema sleeve - then (for a variety of reasons) decided to check out the local pharmacy - and I mean, one of the old-fashioned ones, not just another CVS or Rite-Aid.  They had one with light compression for less than 1/2 of the specialist's price - and no fancy insurance claims - I just used my Flex Account.  

Today was the first day that I used dumbbells outside of physical therapy, and I didn't even think about a sleeve until after the class was done.  However, I used much lighter weights than I'd ever used before.  No problems, so far!   

PurpleMe - 

My onc suggested I wear the sleeve when flying - I had a conference in Fla and a mini-vaca with friends in Colorado in the same 2-3 week period.  Because each flight was more than an hour, he suggested that I wear the sleeve.  He pointed out that it was easier to find out that I don't need it than to end up in a hospital away from home.  . . participarly if my arm started sweling while I was on the side of a 12,000 foot mountain and 2 hours from a major hospital center. 

I hadn't thought seriously about using the sleeve during exercise until this week when 1) I read this thread and 2) I started using dumbbells again.  

My physical therapist and most of my docs suggested that I probably wouldn't need it just becuase I was lifting weights, since I'd been doing that regularly before the surgeries.  They also suggested that I work my way back up to the 10 and 15 pound weights I'd been using before, and start with bands and 2 or 3 lb dumb bells on the affected side.  

I got cocky this week and jumped up to 8 lb bells, after more than a year of irregular lifting.  So far, so good.  I'm going todo some research or  check with my docs again before I use the heavier wts, though, to see if I should be wearing the sleeve for working out.   It's so hard to tell how much of the lumphadema warnings are things we should be scared of - those fears kept me from doing ANYTHING exercise related for almost a year!