Adhesions Post Breast Cancer Surgery
Scars developed from the surgical treatment of breast cancer can lead to adverse effects such as fibrosis and adhesions within the connective tissue. Manual therapy such as myofascial release (MFR) has been used with an intention to reduce fascial adhesions. A study from Valencia, Spain investigated the clinical impact of MFR treatment on female survivors of breast cancer.
Study
The study involved 24 women with breast cancer, where 13 received myofascial release treatment and 11 received a placebo manual lymphatic drainage treatment. Both interventions were administered over a period of four weeks.
Results
Pain significantly decreased immediately after myofascial release treatment, and this improvement persisted one month after treatment. No effects on pain were observed in the placebo group.
Regarding range of motion of the ipsilateral shoulder joint, myofascial release therapy significantly improved all ranges of motion, except internal rotation. These improvements were maintained in the follow-up measurement. Placebo therapy also showed a significant positive effect on range of motion; this increase in range of motion also endured after treatment for extension and adduction, but not for internal rotation.
Regarding functionality, both myofascial release and placebo therapies achieved the established level of significance, thus showing an increase in functionality, but only the MFR sustained the improvement after one month.
General Quality of Life, assessed with a questionnaire, and its physical well-being dimension significantly improved after myofascial release treatment. Meanwhile the emotional dimension and the breast cancer subscale improved with placebo treatment.
Digital COMT
Did you know that Digital COMT (Digital Clinical Orthopedic Manual Therapy), Dr. Joe Muscolino’s continuing education video streaming subscription service for massage therapists (and all manual therapists and movement professionals), has at present (December of 2018) more than 1,000 video lessons on manual therapy continuing education, including entire folders on massage therapy, stretching, and joint mobilization. And we add seven (7) new videos lessons each and every week! And nothing ever goes away. There are also folders on Pathomechanics and Anatomy and Physiology, including an entire folder on Cadaver Anatomy… and many, many more on other manual and movement therapy assessment and treatment techniques? Click here for more information.
Conclusion
The authors concluded that myofascial release treatment shows physical benefits (i.e., perceived pain, overall shoulder movement, and functionality) in women after breast cancer surgery. However, the placebo lymphatic drainage treatment decreased depression.
Comment by Joseph Muscolino
Studies like this are extremely important for the profession of massage to begin to have a greater presence in the allopathic world of medicine. With more studies that show the effectiveness of massage to help post-surgery and with other conditions, the profession of massage will hopefully have a greater presence in the future in hospital and rehabilitation centers.
Note: It is strange to me that another well-accepted manual therapy technique such as lymphatic drainage was used as the “sham placebo” technique for what would normally be called the “control group.” Sham placebos are usually techniques done that are understood to have no clinical value. In this way, the effectiveness of the technique being studied, in this case, myofascial release therapy, can be compared to how the patients would fare if no treatment at all were to have been administered. This study was, therefore, really more of a comparison of the relative effectiveness of myofascial release and lymphatic drainage for the parameters measured for women post breast surgery.
This blog post article was created in collaboration with www.terrarosa.com.au.
(Click here for the blog post article: Stretching Reduces Cancer Tumor Growth in a Study with Mice.)
Digital COMT
Did you know that Digital COMT (Digital Clinical Orthopedic Manual Therapy), Dr. Joe Muscolino’s continuing education video streaming subscription service for massage therapists (and all manual therapists and movement professionals), has at present (December of 2018) more than 1,000 video lessons on manual therapy continuing education, including entire folders on massage therapy, stretching, and joint mobilization. And we add seven (7) new videos lessons each and every week! And nothing ever goes away. There are also folders on Pathomechanics and Anatomy and Physiology, including an entire folder on Cadaver Anatomy… and many, many more on other manual and movement therapy assessment and treatment techniques? Click here for more information.
