Effect of water physical therapy on quality of life in breast cancer survivors

Abstract

Introduction. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an individualized 12-week water physical therapy program on quality of life parameters in breast cancer survivors. Methods. overall, 68 women met the eligibility criteria and were included in the study. They were randomly allocated for the water physical therapy program (experimental group, n = 34) and Pilates physical therapy program (active control group, n = 34). Both groups attended relevant programs for 12 weeks and received 36 rehabilitation sessions. Quality of life parameters were assessed with the questionnaire of the European organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EoRTC) with a specific module for breast cancer patients (BR-23). Quality of life data were recorded at baseline and after a 12-week intervention. Results. in the results analysis, statistically significant differences between the studied groups were identified. The experimental group participants presented significantly fewer negative symptoms associated with the disease and surgical intervention as a whole. Particularly, fatigue was lower by 10.27 points in the experimental group compared with the active control group (p < 0.05), insomnia was lower by 13.23 points (p < 0.05), appetite loss was smaller by 14.30 points (p < 0.01). Conclusions. The results confirm that a 12-week water physical therapy program effectively improves quality of life parameters, which was reflected in improving general physical condition, shoulder range of motion, emotional and physical functioning, optimism about the future, and a decrease in fatigue, dyspnoea, and insomnia in breast cancer survivors.

Cardiopulmonary function in breast cancer patients versus healthy control women

“…A great deal of research [2-4, 23, 24] indicates that women who underwent breast surgery and adjuvant therapy are more likely to present a higher risk of cardiotoxicity, reduced peak oxygen consumption, and impaired cardiopulmonary parameters. The importance of the problem is underlined by the presence of numerous physical exercise interventions [8][9][10][11][25][26][27][28] for improving life quality and functional state of the cardiovascular system in breast cancer survivors.…”

Beneficios do deep running em mulheres mastectomizadas: relato de casos/ Deep running benefits in of post-mastectomy women: cases report

“…Na comparação de exercícios realizados no solo com executados na água para sobreviventes de câncer de mama, estudos apontam benefícios superiores em ambiente aquático no que se refere aos sintomas gerais de câncer (FERNÁNDEZ-LAO et al, 2013;ODYNETS et al, 2019), nas condições físicas, na dor (BARBAGELATA et al, 2021), na ADM de ombro, na fadiga (ODYNETS et al, 2018;BARBAGELATA et al, 2021) e no bem estar emocional (ODYNETS et al, 2018;ODYNETS et al, 2019;BARBAGELATA et al, 2021). Ainda, os exercícios aquáticos são considerados seguros para esses pacientes (ODYNETS et al, 2019).…”