Arm exercises help breast cancer survivors

Breast cancer survivors have been told for years that lifting anything heavy could worsen painful arm swelling. New research suggests just the opposite is true.

The study found that slowly building strength with upper-body weightlifting actually helps relieve some of the arm and hand swelling that affects up to a quarter of breast cancer survivors.

Women who have had radiation to the armpit, or who have had lymph nodes removed to check for cancer, can suffer lymphedema, a buildup of fluids that causes painful swelling of the arms or hands. The symptoms arise because the body uses lymph glands to help drain fluid.

Doctors have typically advised women to avoid using the affected arm to lift anything heavier than 15 pounds or so (6.8 kg), for fear of making the condition worse.

But in a study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, Kathryn Schmitz of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that women who did a twice weekly weightlifting workout while wearing a compression garment had less arm pain and swelling.