The Recovery of Reaching Movement in Breast Cancer Survivors: Two Different Rehabilitative Protocols in Comparison

University of Roma La Sapienza66 enrolled

Overview

This study emphasizes the importance of rehabilitation in breast cancer survivors after mastectomy, even during the course of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, both for good efficacy in reducing pain and for functional recovery of the upper limb. Authors designed a randomized-controlled trial to compare two different rehabilitation protocols: the single rehabilitative treatment (ST) and the group treatment (GT). The study is the first attempt to measure the reaching movement after BC surgery with an optoelectronic evaluation system previously standardized in the neurological field during rehabilitation treatment.

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women in the developed world. Surgery and medical protocols have improved significantly over the last 10 years and this guarantees a better chance of survival and an improvement in quality of life. Then, the focus on "what happen after defeating BC" has become current: patients' and physicians' awareness of the sequelae of BC surgery has increased, especially in the case of mastectomy or modified radical mastectomy. A large number of these complications, such as lymphedema or post-treatment pain with or without functional impotence, which contribute to limitations in daily life activities, can be treated favourably and, in sometimes, resolved with early rehabilitation protocols. Therefore, it is not only important to start the rehabilitation process early after surgery, but, also, during the sub-acute phase, choose appropriate exercise programs to allow recovery in "quantity" and "quality" of the movement of the operated upper limb (UL). Alterations in muscle activation and reduced shoulder mobility are common in patients with BC. It is necessary to consider that winged scapula incidence in BC surgery is 8% and the prevalence decreased during 6 months after surgery. In particular, patients who developed winged scapula had more shoulder flexion, adduction and abduction limitation. These findings suggest that, after BC surgery, soft tissues restrictions obstruct short-term scapula motion. Reaching movement is a complex multi-articular movement towards a defined point in space and allows the hand to interact with the environment. Nevertheless, it is not yet investigated during the rehabilitation process. Moreover, the execution of the UL movements, improves if the numerous perturbations of the musculoskeletal system, which occur during the execution of movements, are compensated. Motor synergy's components should modify their action to influence positively the outcome of motor activity, preventing the mistakes of the individual components from influencing the overall activity. An important issue is represented by the redundancy of the degrees of motor freedom. Actions and movements can be performed in different ways because the functional synergies are able to co-vary, without changing the result of the action. However, only three spatial dimensions are needed to specify any position where the hand could be placed. This excess of kinematic degrees of freedom means that there are multiple arm configurations that correspond to any particular position of the hand. Thus, improvements in reaching, after BC mastectomy, can be determined, compared to a different rehabilitation protocol, by comparing the Single rehabilitative Treatment (ST) with Group Treatment (GT). Authors designed a randomized-controlled trial to check if specific scapula exercises, included in the ST, could induce changes in the fluidity of the reaching, called Jerk (primary outcome), decrease shoulder pain and improve the functioning of the operated upper limb (secondary outcomes).

Interventions

Single rehabilitative treatmentOTHER

The rehabilitation treatment, performed by a physiotherapist trained in oncological rehabilitation, was carried out with a 6-week exercise program for 12 sessions (60 minutes/session, 2/week).). The protocol included a first phase consist in low impact aerobics warming (15-20 minutes), then diaphragmatic breathing and postural exercises for the midline alignment. The awareness of abdominal breathing represents the preliminary phase for a complete psychophysical relaxation of the patient, an important prerequisite for the correct execution of subsequent mobility, stretching and strengthening exercises of spine, scapula and upper limb. Subsequently, isometric strengthening exercises for shoulder stabilizing muscles, first passively and, subsequently, with supervision, were performed. Specific exercises, for passive mobilization and stabilization of the scapula, cervical pumping and stretching of the pectoral muscles, have been performed.

Group rehabilitative treatmentOTHER

Four-five patients for group. The rehabilitation treatment, performed by a physiotherapist trained in oncological rehabilitation, was carried out with a 6-week exercise program for 12 sessions (60 minutes/session, 2/week). The protocol included at first week mainly breathing techniques, then we introduced exercises gradually more active, according to the improvements of the execution. The exercises had the aim to improve the opening of the scapular chain and to increase the amplitude of the range of motion in order to stimulate better neuromuscular control during the movement of scapular retropulsion, to stretch the pectoral muscles following the rhythm of the breath and the tissues affected by post-surgical scars and fibrotic effects, finally to reinforcing, against gravity, the musculature of the shoulders and back.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change [over time] of the normalized jerk (NJ) within biomechanical reaching movement

The normalized jerk (NJ) was evaluated through the Smart D500 stereo-photogrammetric system (BTS, Italy), calculated on the wrist-target marker distance, within the reaching task performed on the side underwent surgery. It measures the fluidity of the upper limb movement.