LOW INTENSITY RESISTANCE EXERCISE FOR BREAST CANCER PATIENTS WITH ARM LYMPHEDEMA WITH OR WITHOUT COMPRESSION SLEEVE

Abstract

Clinical trials of the effect of physicalexercise on breast cancer related armlymphedema (ALE) are very rare. The aim ofthis study was to examine if controlled lowintensity arm exercises with weights, with orwithout a compression sleeve, influence breastcancer related ALE. Thirty-one breast cancertreated patients with small or moderate ALEwere included in the study. A specificallydesigned arm exercise program was performedwith or without compression sleeve ondifferent days and in a randomized order.Measurements were performed before, directlyafter and 24 hours after the exerciseintervention, with water displacement methodand multiple frequency bioelectricalimpedance analysis (n=10) for volume of thearms and Borg’s scale for perceived exertionduring training. There was an increase of totalarm volume of the lymphedema armimmediately after the exercise intervention forboth with and without sleeve conditions(p≤0.01). At 24 hours, no volume increase wasfound compared to pre-exercise and bothgroups showed tendency towards reducedlymphedema relative volume (p≤0.05). Thepatient’s rating of perceived exertion was lowregardless of whether a sleeve was worn, butwas significantly higher when exercising withthe sleeve. We conclude that low intensityexercises can be performed by patients witharm lymphedema without risk of worseningthe edema. Exercises without the sleeve maybe of benefit provided compression sleeve isworn regularly.