Study Gives Lift to Mastectomy Patients

Breast Cancer survivor Jeanette Stephens-El (inset) took place in a landmark study showing lifting weights can help prevent flare-ups of lymphedema, a painful swelling of the arm that often occurs after a mastectomy.

(Getty Images/Courtesy Jeanette Stephens-El)

Doctors Debate How Much Weightlifting Will Help Breast Cancer Patients

Schmitz said she saw the current "risk-adverse" approach with warnings about lifting heavy objects as a "crazy, backward situation that further stresses the survivors."

Researchers in the breast cancer field widely agreed that the study was well done, but disagreed about the impact it would have.

"The weightlifting study is nicely done," said Dr. Harold Burstein, of Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. "Fortunately, lymphedema is quite uncommon in modern surgical practice for breast cancer."

According to the Schmitz article, different studies have estimated that lymphedema affects up to 70 percent of women after breast cancer surgery.

In years past, surgeons used to take out many more lymph nodes during a mastectomy. The more lymph nodes missing, the greater the woman's risk for developing lymphedema. As medical techniques improved, not only has the rate of mastectomies declined, but so has the amount of tissue taken when a mastectomy is performed.

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"However, there are few treatments that are proven effective for ameliorating this problem, and thus, this looks like a valuable option for affected patients," Burstein said.

Dr. Beryl McCormick of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City agreed that the study would change advice given to breast cancer survivors.

"This is new information. Many surgeons recommend limited weight-bearing," McCormick said.

But Dr. Ruth Oratz of the Women's Oncology and Wellness Practice in New York City said she thought the study would have minimal effect on practice.

Oratz pointed out that while the weightlifting women reported fewer exacerbations from the lymphedema, the weightlifting didn't actually quell the swelling itself.

"The mild strength training looks like it may help prevent exacerbations," Oratz said. "But it will not change baseline arm swelling."

As a result, she said she would see "no major change in practice."

Yet individuals in the study have reported less swelling since they began their participation.