After Mastectomy

Diet After a Mastectomy

A mastectomy refers to the removal of one or both breasts via surgery. Mastectomy is usually the result of a breast cancer diagnosis, and is performed to try and stop the spread of cancer to other parts of the body. Specific lifestyle precautions...

Complications After a Mastectomy

The surgical procedure that partially or totally removes a breast is called a mastectomy. A mastectomy commonly occurs to treat or prevent breast cancer. Four different types of breast mastectomy exist---partial, simple, modified radical and...

Exercises After a Mastectomy

A mastectomy is a complete removal of a woman's breast through surgery, an approach often taken to treat breast cancer. Exercises following a mastectomy are designed to help restore range of motion and function of the shoulder joint, and to...

How to Tone Your Abs After a Mastectomy

A mastectomy is a surgery that involves the complete or partial removal of the breast tissue and in some cases, removal of part of the muscle of the chest wall. This surgery may be needed on one or both breasts due to breast cancer. A mastectomy...

Rehabilitation After Mastectomy

Following many types of surgery, you may require the services of a physical therapist to help you regain strength, endurance, flexibility and range of motion. If you've been told that you need a mastectomy, performed in the treatment and...

When Do You Start Exercises After a Mastectomy?

The timing of exercise after a mastectomy depends on the woman. Some women experience a great deal of pain, numbness and stiffness as a result of the removal of breast tissue to treat or prevent breast cancer. Others suffer no soreness or...

Breast Cancer Symptoms After a Mastectomy

Patients with aggressive and invasive breast cancer typically receive a mastectomy, a surgical procedure involving the removal of breast tissue. During a mastectomy, a surgeon removes the breast tissue, overlying skin and nipple. In some cases,...

Pectoral Exercises After a Mastectomy

As your pectoral and shoulder muscles heal after a mastectomy, it is important to exercise them. Regular exercise should involve flexibility and range of motion activities to reduce your stiffness and help you regain full range of motion. Work in...

Pilates After a Mastectomy & Axillary Dissection

A mastectomy is a surgical procedure for cancer that removes the breast and leaves the muscles behind it intact. If the cancer has spread into the lymph nodes of the armpit, you may also need an axillary lymph node dissection. Exercise after the...

What Are the Treatments for Hot Flashes After a Mastectomy?

Mastectomy is a surgical procedure used to remove all of the breast tissue, generally when a woman is suffering from breast cancer. Women who are undergoing breast cancer treatments will experience hot flashes, which are more intense and longer...

Swimming After a Bilateral Mastectomy

A bilateral mastectomy is surgery to remove both breasts. It is done to either treat or prevent breast cancer in high-risk patients. Once you are medically approved to begin activity, swimming is beneficial to avoid muscle atrophy and...

Exercise After a Double Mastectomy

The thought of exercising after a double mastectomy is daunting for many women. Shoulder and arm movements are often temporarily restricted. However, according to the American Cancer Society, exercises decrease "any side effects of your surgery...

Supplements for Rebuilding Muscle After Bilateral Mastectomy

The loss of breast tissue following a bilateral mastectomy can decrease your upper body strength and negatively affect your self image. Rebuilding muscle in the chest area can help normalize the profile of your bust, increase strength and play an...

Exercise Restrictions for a Mastectomy

The National Cancer Institute estimates that approximately 207,000 women and 2,000 men will develop breast cancer in 2010. Some of these people will require a mastectomy, surgery removing the breast and possibly some lymph nodes, as part of their...

Post-Mastectomy Exercises

Mastectomy, the surgical removal of a breast, is performed to treat or prevent breast cancer in certain cases. You may begin some low-impact exercises soon after surgery, but you may have to wait two weeks or longer to resume a regular exercise...

Breast Reconstruction Complications

Approximately one-third of breast cancer patients require a mastectomy--the removal of one or both breasts, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. If the patient is interested and has enough healthy skin and tissue left after the...

Breast Cancer Reconstruction Complications Post Radiation

After being diagnosed with breast cancer, 1/3 of women choose to have a mastectomy, or surgical removal of the entire breast, says an October 2008 article by Peter G. Cordeiro, M.D. in "The New England Journal of Medicine." Removal of one or both...

Mastectomy and Exercise

Exercise is important, both from a physical and psychological perspective, in helping you recover from a mastectomy. Although you should always follow your doctor's advice as to a time frame for starting, as well as any special instructions she...

Exercises for Post Mastectomy

Once a mastectomy has been performed, the patient will be under a doctor's watchful eye. The patient will need to start exercising soon after the surgery as long as there are no complications. Exercises will prevent swelling, tightness and they...

A Mammogram After Breast Cancer

Nobody understands the importance of regular mammograms more than breast cancer survivors, yet all too often people put off scheduling a mammogram after recovering from cancer care. Part of the reason may be the fact that the last mammogram...

How to Exercise After a Tram Flap

Transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap -- or TRAM flap, for short -- is a surgery that uses skin and fatty tissue from the lower abdomen to reconstruct the breast after a mastectomy. Since two areas of the body require recovery following...

The Method Cardio Flex Band

Exercise DVDs allow you to enjoy the benefits of a group exercise class in your own home. These programs usually factor in the space and equipment limitations specific to small apartments. The Method Cardio Flex Band workout, which combines...

How Is Breast Cancer Surgery Performed?

A mastectomy is the name for a major type of breast cancer surgery, in which all of one of both breasts is removed. This includes the entire breast, nipple and generally the surrounding tissues. A double mastectomy is the name for the surgery that...

Exercises for a Post Operative Mastectomy

A mastectomy is a surgical procedure where one or both breasts are removed, usually due to the presence of breast cancer. Results of the surgery can make daily activities painful and challenging. Exercising after a mastectomy is important to help...

Exercises for Post Masectomy

A mastectomy is the complete removal of a woman's breast in order to prevent or treat breast cancer. According to the National Institutes of Health, a mastectomy can take a number of forms, ranging from a total mastectomy in which all the skin and...

Emotional Effects of Breast Cancer

Receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer can be devastating. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that in 2006 alone, 191,410 women in the United States learned they had breast cancer, and some 41,000 died from the disease. Getting...

The Different Stages of Grief

Grief is an intense sadness, a deep emotion that happens when a loved one or friend dies. Grief can also be experienced over a loss, not necessarily death, like the loss of opportunity, the loss of breasts after a mastectomy, or the loss of youth...

Mastectomy Complications

A mastectomy is a surgical procedure performed to remove one or both breasts. It is usually performed to treat or prevent breast cancer and involves removal of all breast tissue and nearby lymph nodes. Like any major surgery, a mastectomy can lead...