Effect of exercise on rehabilitation of breast cancer surgery patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Yawei Lin, Yi Chen, Rongrong Liu and 1 others
PMID 36451034WHAT IT FOUND
Aerobic exercise reduced pain and improved shoulder flexion, internal rotation, arm symptoms and strength.
Shoulder and elbow exercise reduced lymphedema incidence. Resistance exercise did not reduce pain, and manual lymphatic drainage and aerobic exercise did not show a reduction in arm volume.
Key findings
01Aerobic exercise reduced pain in four trials.
02Shoulder and elbow exercise reduced the incidence of arm lymphedema.
03Manual lymphatic drainage and aerobic exercise did not show a significant difference in arm lymphedema volume.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review covered many different exercise types and outcome measures, and 15 extracted papers could not be analysed because they were too inconsistent. Some results came from only two or three trials, so they are less stable than a large single trial. Search was limited to English and Chinese. Publication bias was checked only for pain. Some included trials combined exercise types, so the effect of each component cannot always be separated. The trials varied widely for several outcomes, including resistance exercise for pain and some shoulder range of motion results.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that exercise is proven to treat every complication. Some trials combined exercise types, and 15 papers could not be analysed because interventions or outcomes differed. Manual lymphatic drainage and aerobic exercise did not show a reduction in arm volume.