swimming

computermouse · January 2011

Hi,

I have mild to moderate LE and have recently tried daily swimming as an alternative to wrapping and wearing compression garments. It's a big commitment, but the good news is that my arm feels fantastic after I swim. The bad news is that this feeling doesn't last the full day. I may have to add wrapping back into the mix, but am wondering if anyone has heard of an optimal amount of time for swimming success. Right now I do about half an hour of very slow breast stroke.

Also, I experience this strange deep itching in my LE arm when I swim. It has diminished with each session, but still, I'm wondering if anyone else has had this.

Thanks!

CM

Nordy · January 2011

CM - I swim but have never had the itchiness in my arm. I love swimming and it does make me (and my arm) feel wonderful, but it certainly has not made it so that I don't have to wrap. Undecided

If you discover an optimal time that works for you - let us know. We will be so excited for you and maybe it will work for someone else!

kira66715 · January 2011

Computermouse: that's great that you made the committment and it's working.

I heard this talk from a woman who did aqua therapy--but only once a week--for women with lymphedema, and she found that the arms reduced after each session, but it didn't last--and the women needed to wrap, etc. But it was only once a week, and you're doing every day.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19495810

Support Care Cancer. 2010 Mar;18(3):383-92. Epub 2009 Jun 3.
Aqua lymphatic therapy in women who suffer from breast cancer treatment-related lymphedema: a randomized controlled study.

Tidhar D, Katz-Leurer M.

Department of Physical Therapy, "Maccabi Healthcare Services", Netivot, Israel.

Erratum in:

* Support Care Cancer. 2010 Mar;18(3):393.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Lymphedema is an adverse effect of breast cancer surgery. Aqua lymphatic therapy (ALT) is a novel treatment for limb volume reduction.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine whether ALT is a safe method and whether there are differences in adherence, limb volume, and quality of life between women who perform only self-management treatment and women who participate as well in ALT.

DESIGN: Design of the study was single-blind randomized clinical trial.

SETTING: The setting was in a hydrotherapy pool, 1.2 m depth, and a temperature of 32-33 degrees capital ES, Cyrillic.

PATIENTS: Forty-eight women (56 +/- 10 years), with a 12.8% lymphedema relative volume, participated in the study.

INTERVENTION: The control group was instructed to perform the self-management treatment. The study group joined a weekly session of ALT for 3 months in addition to the self-management therapy.

MEASUREMENTS: Adherence was assessed by a self-reported diary, limb volume by a water displacement device, quality of life by the Upper Limb Lymphedema Questionnaire (ULL27), prior to, and after the intervention period.

RESULTS: There was no episode of arm infection or aggravation in limb volume during the study period. ALT had a positive, statistically and clinically significant immediate effect on limb volume but no long-term effect was noted. The adherence rate to ALT was significantly higher than the adherence to self-management therapy. QOL improved in the study group.

CONCLUSION: ALT was found to be a safe method, with high adherence, in treating women who suffer from mild to moderate lymphedema. A significant immediate and insignificant long-term effect on limb volume was noted.

So, you're way ahead of these women.

Kira

computermouse · January 2011

Thanks you guys for your input. I decided since I wasn't able to get any physical therapy appointments this week to swim every day for a week and then see what my therapist says when she sees my arm Monday. Unfortunately I forgot I have my fipple surgery tomorrow, so it looks like my experiment will only be four days long this time.'

However....even though the results are temporary, it does seem that -- even in just four days -- the swelling doesn't come back as much each time. So the effects might actually be more than just flushing out the swelling that has accumulated since the last swim.

The other thing I'm finding is that I'm really enjoying swimming! I just get in the beginner's lane and do a slow breast stroke, and it's a form of 'me' time that I don't get anywhere else in my life. I do it on my way to or from work, so I'm always between a demanding boss or toddler! There's something about being in the pool that just takes you away from all of life's other demands. And I thought I hated swimming!

SleeveNinja · January 2011

Hi Mouse - and welcome! Swimming definitely works for me. I still have to wear a sleeve all of the time (on land) but I always feel better after swimming. A few times I have indeed felt something like an itch deep in my axilla (not in my arm) and often I feel a deep soothing ache, if an ache could feel good, -- it's hard to describe. I take these to be signs of life in a dead zone if you know what I mean. I only get the feeling from swimming.

It's hard to drag myself to the pool in wnter but I always feel better for it. At one point, I went everyday for 45 - 90 minutes for nealy a month. It improved my swelling just a little, and never beyond a certain point. I seem to be able to maintain that with 15-20 minutes if I do it fairly regularly. I average 20-30 minutes in the pool about 4 times a week in winter. Much more in summer. Besides actually swimming, I also stand and sweep my arm against the water or float on my back and do jumping jack arms -- whatever feels good. Please keep me posted on you contniued experiments!!! Splish, splash. Smile

kira66715 · January 2011

Joe Zuther just posted about aquatic exercise on his blog: what a great resource

http://www.lymphedemablog.com/2011/01/20/the-benefit-of-aquatic-exercise-for-lymphedema/

Kira

BoobsinaBox · January 2011

I signed up for this blog a few weeks ago. It is wonderful to get such good info in my mail box every week!

Dawn

kira66715 · January 2011

Dawn, it's so good--I have an urge to scribble it down, and then I realize it's on the web for us to reference. Joe is doing us a world of good with his excellent, patient centered blog. I keep emailing him to thank him--it's amazing.

Kira

sushanna1 · January 2011

Several months ago the U of Penn was recruiting for a research study to look at the effect of water aerobics (Sorry but I cannot remember the exact description) on lymphedema. I tried to sign up but my local Y would not participate. I probably discarded the information, but I will post more if I come across it. The person recruiting for the study provided me with diagrams of the exercises which I fear are also buried. By way of explanation, I had some work done on my house last month and am still living with more chaos than usual.

Sue

computermouse · February 2011

Update: the last time I went swimming, unfortunately my arm swelled up during and after the swim. I think my skin was dry and chlorine got in, but my LE therapist says swelling can happen after swimming due to some issue with increased blood pumping. She said it's not actually a bad thing but you do need to compress for a couple hours afterwards. Anyone heard of this?

Also, I could try switching to a low-chlorine pool, although this would be inconvenient and more expensive. I'm pretty bummed out about the situation because I was really getting to like my routine!

kira66715 · February 2011

Computermouse, If you read the Joe Zuther's blog, he talks about aqua therapy, which isn't actually swimming--from what I've heard, some swim strokes--the crawl, the butterfly, can be harn on the arm, so even if you're in the water, you're bringing more blood flow to the arm.

Sounds like a minor set back, and maybe doing more of the aqua therapy exercises for a bit, and limiting the actual swimming for a while, and you'll figure out what works best for you.

There is one salt water pool in our state, and all the rest are heavy duty chlorine.

Hang in there, and keep us updated.

Kira

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