Top 10 Exercises for Breast Cancer Patients

Has anyone around you developed breast cancer? And has also undergone surgical treatment like breast reconstruction, lymph node removal, mastectomy, breast reconstruction, etc. If yes, then no matter what type of surgery the person has undergone, it's important to do exercises after the surgical intervention. After surgery pain and stiffness can cause weakness and inability of the arm and shoulder to move. Therefore to maintain mobility and strength, exercises should be included in the treatment plan. There is growing evidence about the benefits of physiotherapy for breast cancer patients. Physiotherapy interventions empower patients to do their daily activities, like dressing, combing hair, and bathing. Today in this blog, we will provide a few exercises which can be done after breast cancer surgery.

 

Benefits of physiotherapy

There is a wide range of issues that can occur after breast cancer and can be successfully treated by physiotherapy.

• Helps in the management of lymphedema by exercising.
• Helps to decrease bone loss by maximizing bone integrity.
• Helps to improve musculoskeletal dysfunction by increasing the shoulder range of motion.
• Helps to manage fatigue by designing a graduated exercise program to increase strength and energy levels.
• Helps to decrease pain by exercise prescription and acupuncture.

 

Exercises

Exercises help to decrease the side effects of surgery and also help to get back to the usual activities.

 

Wand exercise

• Hold a stick-like object to use as the wand in this exercise.
• Lie on the floor on the back with knees bent and feet flat.
• Hold the wand across the belly in both hands with the palms facing up.
• Lift the wand over the head as far as you can. Use the unaffected arm to help lift the wand until a stretch is felt in the affected arm.
• Hold for 5 seconds.
• Bring the arm to the starting position and repeat 5 to 10 times.

 

Elbow winging

• Lie on the floor on your back with your knees bent and feet flat.
• Clasp the hands behind the neck with the elbows pointing toward the ceiling.
• Move the elbows apart and then down towards the floor.
• Repeat 5 to 10 times.

 

Shoulder blade stretch 

• Sit in a chair close to the table with the back against the back of the chair.
• Place the unaffected arm on the table with the palm facing down and the elbow bent. Do not move the arm during the exercise.
• Place the affected arm on the table with the palm facing down, and elbow straight.
• Without moving the trunk, slide the affected arm forward, toward the opposite side of the table and feel the shoulder blade moving while doing so.
• Bring the arm to the starting position and repeat 5 to 10 times.

 

Shoulder blade squeeze

• Sit in a chair with a mirror in front, without resting against the back of the chair.
• Arms by the sides with elbows bent.
• Squeeze the shoulder blades together, bring the elbows behind toward the spine.
• Elbows move along but don't force the motion of the elbows. Keep the shoulders level and do not lift them towards the ears.
• Bring the arm to the starting position and repeat 5 to 10 times.

 

Side bends

• Sit in a chair with hands clasped together in front. Lift the arms slowly over the head and straighten the arms.
• While the arms are overhead, bend the trunk to right and keep the arms overhead.
• Bring the arm to the starting position and bend to the left.
• Repeat 5 to 10 times.

 

Chest wall stretch

• Stand with face towards a corner, toes about 8 to 10 inches away from the corner.
• Bend the elbows and place the forearms, one on each side of the corner on the wall. Elbows should be close to shoulder height.
•  Arms and feet should be in place. Move the chest towards the corner and feel the stretch across the chest and shoulders.
• Bring the arm to the starting position and repeat 5 to 10 times.

 

Shoulder stretch

• Stand with face towards the wall with toes about 8 to 10 inches from the wall.
• Place the hands on the wall and use fingers to climb the wall and reach as high as possible till a stretch is felt.
• Bring the arm to the starting position and repeat 5 to 10 times.

 

Seated Lateral Raise

• Sit in a chair, with arms by the sides.
• Hold a dumbbell in each hand,
• With elbows slightly bent lift the arms to the height of the shoulder.
• Bring the arm to the starting position and repeat 10 times.

 

Seated Biceps Curl

• Sit in a chair, holding a dumbbell in hand.
• Bring the hand towards the shoulder by bending the elbow.
• Bring the hand back to the starting position and repeat 10 times.

 

Pendulum

• Bend forward at the waist, with the unaffected arm supported on a chair, and let the affected arm hang towards the floor.
• Make small circles with the affected hand, let the momentum move the arm around effortlessly.
• Make10 circles clockwise and 10 circles counterclockwise.

 Physiotherapy has been observed to improve the functionality of breast cancer patients and thus improve their quality of life.

 

Diabetes and Exercises: How to Manage blood sugar levels with Physiotherapy?

Diabetes is one of the most prevalent diseases in the modern world but if treated early can reduce the risks of progression to diabetic neuropathy or autonomic neuropathy. People with pre-diabetes, have impaired fasting glucose and also impaired glucose tolerance, thus are prone to diabetes and can fall victim to cardiovascular disease. Regardless of the type of diabetes the person has, it is important to do exercises. Physiotherapy is one suitable option that focuses on encouraging preventative care and helps to manage the symptoms of diabetes. This blog describes the benefits of exercises for diabetic patients and a few of them are mentioned below.

 

Diabetes

Diabetes is of 2 Types, Type1 diabetes (insulin-dependent), caused by cell destruction in the pancreas, has deficient insulin secretion, and is often associated with pancreatic antibodies. They are typically exogenous insulin-dependent and at greater risk of ketosis, coma, and death. Type 2 diabetes (noninsulin-dependent), related to genetic and lifestyle, is insulin resistant and has insulin deficiency.

 

Benefits of Exercising:

Physiotherapy is an important part of diabetes management. Physiotherapist recommends exercises that cause muscles to use sugar for energy. With the help of regular exercises, the body uses insulin more efficiently. Lack of activity and being obese are the most significant environmental factors related to Type 2 diabetes. Increased activity and increasing exercise levels promote weight loss. It increases the body's sensitivity to insulin and enhances the utilization of glucose. It helps to lower blood sugar levels and maintain overall diabetic control. Exercising regularly and losing weight are beneficial in glycemic control in Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and also help prevent the development of diabetes in people who have prediabetes.

 

Exercises for Diabetic Patients:

The physiotherapist designs a structured exercise program according to the patient's needs. Structured Exercise programs consist of resistance training and aerobic exercises. Top of Form

The 3 main types of exercise for diabetic patients are aerobic, strength, and flexibility exercises. A diabetic person should start with aerobic exercises, then slowly progress to strengthening exercises and then progress to flexibility exercises, with two sessions of strength training per week.

 

Walking:  Brisk walk of 30 minutes, 5 days a week is recommended. It is a simple and safe exercise and just requires a good pair of shoes and a safe place to walk.

 

Cycling:  Cycling is a low-impact exercise for lower joint pain, a good exercise for diabetes.

 

Swimming: Aquatic exercise like swimming helps reduce the blood sugar level, also is a low-impact exercise for diabetes and it helps to relax the whole body and is a good workout for the heart, lungs, and muscles.

 

Aerobic exercises: Aerobic exercises like aerobic dance can also be done as a workout.

 

Weight training: Weight lifting and other strengthening activities help to build up muscle mass, and burn down calories. Strength training can also improve blood sugar control, thus suitable exercise for diabetes.

Resistance band exercise: Resistance band exercises can also be done by diabetic patients. With the help of simple weights or resistance bands, strengthening exercises can be done.

 

Calisthenics: Calisthenics is a type of strengthening exercise, where the patient's own body weight is used to increase strength e.g squats, pushups, pull-ups lunges, and abdominal crunches.

 

Pilates: Pilates is a fitness program, recommended to improve core strength, coordination, and balance.

 

HIIT: High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a suitable exercise for diabetic patients.  By performing High-intensity interval training, leads to rapid improvement in glucose levels in diabetic patients.

Other exercises are like playing tennis, basketball, running, jogging, and these exercises engage all the muscles of the body and also help maintain blood sugar levels.

Note: Check your blood sugar level before and also after the exercises, keep a snack handy in case your blood sugar drops down, drink plenty of water before, during, and after the exercises and wear proper shoes and socks.

 Physiotherapy for Child's Developmental Delay | Its Role and Importance

Do you suspect that your toddler is not developing on schedule and has a developmental delay? If yes, then you need to be vigilant and request a developmental screening test for your child. Developmental delay is diagnosed when a child does not reach the developmental milestone and can lead to a minor or major problem. You will be surprised at the number of resources and interventions available for the treatment of developmental delays. Physiotherapy is one of them. As the child's brain can adapt easily and respond well in the early years, therefore, the treatment for delayed milestones should be started as early as possible. Physiotherapy treatment aims to promote the ability to reach physical milestones and promote independence. Today, through this blog we can help you to understand about the developmental delay and the role of physiotherapy in it.

 

Developmental Delay

Developmental delay, also known as Delayed milestone, is when the development of the child is delayed as compared to other children. There can be many different causes for developmental delay such as problems during birth like occlusion of the internal carotid or mid cerebral artery during birth, asphyxia can occur by accidents which could be as a result of the knotted umbilical cord, cord around the neck, or prolapsed cord, problems during early infancy, genetic problem, infection, head injury, neonatal meningitis, etc.

The child feels gross motor skills or movement delay, fine motor developmental delay, speech and language delay, cognitive/intellectual developmental delay, social and emotional developmental delay thus causing problems in the child's ability to interact with others.

 

Benefits of Physiotherapy

Delayed milestone is the way a child grows and matures from birth to adulthood, mostly developmental delays can be corrected themselves if not then physiotherapy treatment can help:

• To achieve physical milestones such as crawling, sitting, and standing,
• Improve posture, muscle strength, motor control, balance, and coordination,
• Improve independence in activities of daily living,
• Improve confidence.

 

Treatment Techniques:

Treatment is specified to the child's needs, age and abilities. The physiotherapist often uses exercises and activities to help promote normal development.  Effective short and long-term rehabilitation goals are developed so that milestones are reached and improve their quality of life. The rehabilitation plan is set up after taking a thorough assessment of the areas concerned with the child's development to give them the best chance possible to achieve their physical milestones.

 

Neurodevelopmental Techniques:

Neurodevelopmental techniques are used to improve head and trunk control. For example, supporting the child in sitting to develop weight shifting, rotation, coordination, and balance. This technique session is given for the facilitation of head holding on a wedge or Swiss ball, neck extension on the Swiss ball prone with scapular retraction, prone on elbows and a hands-on Swiss ball, rolling with a weight shift to the rib cage, intercostal muscle stretch to sit on the mat, sitting on tilt board with weight shifts, side-sitting one hand weight-bearing, and sitting 90-90 upright on the small stool.

 

Oromotor Stimulation:

Oromotor stimulation devices used are finger brush with soft bristles, vibrating brush and nuke brush, the position of the head in midline, slightly flexed with the propped up position. The techniques used are stimulation by deep pressure on gums with a gloved finger, stroking over cheeks to improve sucking rate, intraoral stimulation with artificial nipples, and rooting reflex facilitation. For fine and coarse stimulation. The sequential introduction of different tastes like breast milk, sugar, honey, jaggery is also given.

 

Sensory Integration:

Sensory stimulation is followed by palm strokes with different soft and hard textures. The vestibular system stimulation includes head turns with 20 repetitions, head nod with 20 repetitions, swing on the horizontal plane in the supine position in forward, backward and lateral direction, cribbing in the vertical plane in supine, and rolling on the Swiss ball, bouncing on the Swiss ball in a sitting position and sitting on a rotatory swing. The proprioceptive system stimulation includes techniques like compression of the joints by concentrating on the extremities, tightly and firmly rolling into the blanket, and vibrations using a tuning fork or brush. Further progressed to firm deep pressure using the large ball. For proprioception, mirror imaging can also be used to increase the awareness of where the limbs are in space.

 

Passive stretching with the Myofascial release:    

Muscle stretching is done to lengthen the muscles, which in turn increases the range of motion and prevents muscles and joints from becoming stiff. The passive stretching follows the stabilization of the upper part of the thorax with one hand, laterally flexing the head of the child to the left side holding for 10 seconds and then laterally rotating the head to the right side holding for 10 sec and stretching the sternocleidomastoid.

 

Hydrotherapy:

Hydrotherapy treatment helps relax stiff joints and muscles, thus maximizing mobility in water and helping develop independence with the daily activities of daily living (ADL).

 

Assistive devices:

The physiotherapist recommends a supportive device such as orthotic devices, using a wheelchair, or other adaptive equipment (in case required).

 

The physiotherapist designs a treatment plan, which is developed to incorporate parents, caretakers, and teachers so that it helps them to understand the child's needs, promote future independence and develop independence with everyday tasks.