After mastectomy, women might lose mobility and develop kinematic changes in the shoulder. The objective of this research was to compare the kinematics of the glenohumeral joint in women, before and after unilateral breast cancer surgery. This was a longitudinal study with a pre- and post-evaluation design; in total, 15 Mexican women who had a mastectomy for breast cancer and who received a physical therapy program after surgery were evaluated. Flexion–extension and abduction–adduction movements of the glenohumeral joint were evaluated (15 days before and 60 days after mastectomy). For the kinematic analysis of the glenohumeral joint, an optoelectronic motion capture system was used to monitor 41 reflective markers located in anatomical landmarks. There was no significant difference in the range of motion of the glenohumeral joint when comparing pre- and post-mastectomy, flexion–extension (p = 0.138), and abduction–adduction (p = 0.058). Furthermore, patients who received chemotherapy (53%) before mastectomy were more affected (lower range of motion) than those who did not receive it. There were no significant differences in the kinematics of the glenohumeral joint after mastectomy in this group of patients who received a physical therapy program after surgery. Moreover, patients who received chemotherapy treatment before breast cancer surgery tended to have a lower range of motion than those who did not receive it. Therefore, it is necessary for the physical rehabilitation team to attend to these patients even before the mastectomy.
After breast cancer surgery, women might develop musculoskeletal impairments that affect movements of the upper limbs and reduce the quality of life. The objective of this research was to analyze the effect of the unilateral breast cancer surgery on the kinematics of the shoulder and the electrical activity of the upper trapezius, middle deltoid and pectoralis major muscles. Eight right-handed female participants, mean age 46.5 ± 5.45 years and mean body mass 71.21 ± 13.33 kg, with unilateral breast cancer surgery, without breast reconstruction and without lymphede- ma symptoms were included in the research. Flexion-extension and abduction-adduction movements of the shoul- der were evaluated with infrared cameras and the electrical activity was measured using surface electromyography. The statistical analysis of the direction angles showed a significant reduction of the flexion-extension and abduc- tion-adduction movements in the affected side in most of the participants (p<0.05). The muscle electrical activity did not present a significant difference between the two sides for the flexion-extension and abduction-adduction movements (p>0.05). The results suggest that the surgical procedure could compromise the range of motion of the affected side. Furthermore, this research contributes to clarify the effect of the surgical procedure in the range of motion of the upper limbs.
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