Exercises after ALND

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SazzleD
SazzleD Member Posts: 6
edited September 2019 in Surgery - Before, During, and After

Hi all, l

I had ALND last Tuesday, 10 Sep but have received no advice on exercises to do post-surgery. My armpit is pretty much numb, and I get shooting pains when I move my arm in certain directions. I have the feeling of a piece of string tied under my arm which feels tight and restrictive however I am still able to raise my arm overhead with some effort.

Prior to surgery, I finally started making progress at the Crossfit gym I attend and am keen to get back as soon as I can to help me through chemo, so I am concerned about loss of range of motion.

Can anyone share any of the exercises they were recommended to do post-ALND and the duration and frequency? I don't want to do my own thing and risk over- or under-doing it. When I quizzed the doctor post-op (I'm in Indonesia, so more demanding than his usual patients!), he advised I just move my arm through its normal ROM. I'd just like something a bit more constructive to be going on with, I guess.

Thanks,

Sarah

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  • HopeWins
    HopeWins Member Posts: 181
    edited September 2019

    check out mskk.org, website for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and/or search

    Exercises After Your Axillary Lymph Node Dissection

    It goes through all the exercises, reps, etc.
    Piece of string feeling - you may have cording and that might require PT work. Good luck!
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  • ksusan
    ksusan Member Posts: 4,505
    edited September 2019

    Less than a week is perhaps too soon to push this--your flesh is still healing.

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  • B-A-P
    B-A-P Member Posts: 525
    edited September 2019

    I had to do my exercises the same day I had my surgery starting with just wrist movements of flexion and extension. I then has to progress to laying on my back , and slowly raising arms above my head and holding where I could. 10 reps. Then crawled arms out to the side.

    Then a pec stretch where you place hands behind head and lower your elbows to the bed ( or as low as you can). Then I progressed to walk walks. So just crawling your fingers up the wall as far as comfy. First I did flexion, then abduction.

    I had a few more, but I think it's worth asking your team for the exercises. Where I live, we are sent to a Physio before surgery and then 2 weeks post to make sure range of motion is coming back. I feel like it's super important to do them when you can so that you don't continue to have a lot of restriction

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited September 2019

    Here's a link from my hospital to a pdf that includes exercises:

    http://www.muhcpatienteducation.ca/DATA/GUIDE/415_en~v~breast-surgery-not-developed-by-patient-education-office-.pdf

    Here are screenshots of the exercises in the pdf:

    image

    image


    You might have cording. I recommend getting a referral to a trained lymphedema therapist.

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  • B-A-P
    B-A-P Member Posts: 525
    edited September 2019

    Ah yes ! those were basically the same ones I was doing :) glad someone had pictures :)

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  • SazzleD
    SazzleD Member Posts: 6
    edited September 2019

    Thank you for this resource, @HopeWins - I found the link in Google (although I am unable to post it here) and it's a super complete list of exercises.

    @B-A-P and @SerenitySTAT these are great! Good to know the frequency and reps. I figured I should have been doing something quite soon after surgery.

    I look forward (albeit with some trepidation!) to working through these. I won't feel like I'm stagnating on the sofa so much! 😁

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