Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Hard to believe it's October again isn't it.

Here in Scotland it's getting colder and wetter and the leaves are starting to drop - not that it hasn't been like that most of the last three or four months of course. Gordon's just back from a trip camping on the Island of Berneray in the Western Isles and still hasn't really warmed up again nearly five days later.

Anyway - the reason for this post is that October is of course Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Please be involved. Join in a coffee morning. Do something to raise some funds. Be a bit silly. Wear pink to work. Just celebrate the fact that you are alive and healthy.

Go live life like you mean it - start today.

Marjory

Berneray - Western Isles

Shoulder Pain And Breast Cancer

Pain around the shoulder is common after breast cancer treatments.

The surgery often causes muscle tightness, lymph node removal can trigger nerve pains, cording is common after mastectomy and radiation treatments often result in frozen shoulder and other related problems.

A new article in the Nursing Times journal highlights the need for a proper review of the kind of shoulder exercises that might work best for women who have had breast cancer treatment. They looked at almost ten years worth of published research. Three reviewers critically appraised the studies and categorised them according to the amount of evidence they generated. Only the best studies were included.

They found that both early and delayed exercise had no effect on the occurrence of lymphoedema, although starting exercise training and physiotherapy quickly after surgery was most effective in avoiding shoulder motion deterioration.

If you've developed a frozen shoulder or neck and shoulder pain after breast cancer treatments then you might find Gordon's ebook helpful.

You can download a copy here.