Don't lift more than 5 pounds? More evidence that it's hooey!

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A. P. Thorsen - 19 May 2006 15:23 GMT

New York Times:
Balancing Painful Swelling With a Desire to Exercise
By SUSAN BERGER

Slow, progressive weight training may be safe for survivors of breast
cancer at risk for contracting lymphedema.

http://tinyurl.com/rrsyj

Actual research study is targeted for publication in the June issue of
the Journal of Clinical Oncology. I've read the article on their "early
release" page at http://www.jco.org/ . (I think you need subscription
access to the electronic journal; I have it because I'm at a University.)

Key sentence: "In summary, twice-a-week weight training over a period
of 6 months did not increase incidence, arm-circumference measurement
differences, or symptoms of lymphedema in breast cancer survivors
compared with nonintervention controls."

Longer-term and reinforcing research is needed, scientifically speaking.

Ann T.
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Anthony - 23 May 2006 19:32 GMT

> New York Times:
> Balancing Painful Swelling With a Desire to Exercise
> By SUSAN BERGER
>
> Slow, progressive weight training may be safe for survivors of breast
> cancer at risk for contracting lymphedema.

In my experience the medics who deal with cancer know little and care
less about lymphedema. Prior to my wife's MRM the subject did not
arise, and I didn't know of it because my research had been focused on
types of cancer, treatments and where to get the best. After the
surgery the surgeon, a very well known and respected fellow, said "Oh
by the way she might get a thick arm" and pretty much left it at that
and one of his colleagues gave us the "no more than 5lbs" line. So we
ignored the conventional wisdom, she has an aerobic dance class three
times a week and a personal trainer, with whom she lifts what she can
which is a lot more than 5lbs, twice a week. She wears a compression
sleeve when she does weights and when she flies and so far, three years
on, she is fine. She is, however, extremely careful to avoid injury to
the arm in jeopardy and when she gets a minor scratch or scrape we are
there immediately with the antibacterial treatment. I don't know what
causes lymphedema in one person and not in another but I have to
believe that a reasonably active life style is a help rather than
otherwise.

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Mary Fisher - 23 May 2006 20:38 GMT

>> New York Times:
>> Balancing Painful Swelling With a Desire to Exercise
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> In my experience the medics who deal with cancer know little and care
> less about lymphedema.

That may be your experience but it's not true of all medics.

Nobody knows everything and I've been disappointed about what a couple of bc
doctors-in-training told me - but I put them right!

> Prior to my wife's MRM the subject did not
> arise, and I didn't know of it because my research had been focused on
> types of cancer, treatments and where to get the best.

And that could be the same for bc doctors.

> After the
> surgery the surgeon, a very well known and respected fellow, said "Oh
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> times a week and a personal trainer, with whom she lifts what she can
> which is a lot more than 5lbs, twice a week.

That's fine but if you'd ignored the 'conventional wisdom' and things had
gone wrong would you have been so cock-a-hoop?

> She wears a compression
> sleeve when she does weights and when she flies and so far, three years
> on, she is fine.

I never, ever wear a compression sleeve, my lymphoedema clinic supplied me
with some but they're too painful (heck, I can't even bear a bp cuff on my
GOOD arm!)

> She is, however, extremely careful to avoid injury to
> the arm in jeopardy and when she gets a minor scratch or scrape we are
> there immediately with the antibacterial treatment.

I'm not careful about that at all and only once (very shortly after the
surgery) did I use anything on a quite major scrape on a site where there
are chickens and goats wandering freely.

We're all different.

> I don't know what
> causes lymphedema in one person and not in another but I have to
> believe that a reasonably active life style is a help rather than
> otherwise.

That might be true of one person and not another, to use your words.

We're all different. That includes medics. It's not fair to make judgemental
statements about a whole section of humanity.

Not wanting to change my lifestyle after my surgery in 1998 I didn't. I
still do the gardening, I still share in erecting a very heavy tent several
times a year, I still lift and carry heavy chests. I've no idea of the
actual weights of these things but they're far, far heavier than 5lbs. If I
damage myself that's my lookout, not the medics'.

But in fact they've been very supportive, they say that there's obviously no
increase of my lymphoedema (it's monitored) and that if I prefer to be happy
doing what I do rather than sit around being bored, that's up to me. That's
what I think too. That's what I think Ann T thinks too.

I do practise manual lymph drainage though, which I'm sure helps my
condition. Here in my city we have a specialist lympho clinic which
encourages an aggressive approach to dealing with lymphoedema and it works!
Exercise of any kind and to any degree is not banned, rather we take control
of our own condition.

Mary

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