Word: lymphedema
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Doctors typically tell patients who have the chronic condition to avoid heavy lifting, since lymphedema can flare up and cause infection easily. Many women are advised to not pick up their children, to not use heavy handbags or lift more than 10-15 lb. at a time and to limit exercise to milder forms such as walking, swimming and light aerobics. (See TIME's special report on advances for breast-cancer patients...
...many as two-thirds of breast-cancer survivors, their lifesaving cancer treatment can lead to an incurable and painful condition known as lymphedema. The condition commonly affects patients whose lymph nodes were removed during surgery, causing often debilitating swelling in the hands and arms because of lymph fluid buildup...
...heavy-lifting activity for thousands of patients like Jefferson. Published in the Aug. 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the study is the largest and longest of its kind to date. University of Pennsylvania researchers recruited 141 breast-cancer patients with a diagnosis of stable lymphedema. Half of them participated in a biweekly 90-min. weight-lifting program, which involved the slow, progressive addition of weight machines and free weights, up to as much weight as patients could comfortably lift; the other half of the patients did not lift weights at all. (See how to prevent illness...
Experts also foresee significant potential health-care savings, based on the alleviation of symptoms among the study's weight-training patients. Treatment of an exacerbated case of lymphedema requires specialized attention from physical therapists - including massage and compression bandaging - expenses that many but not all insurance companies cover. For a patient with early-stage lymphedema, an eight-day course of therapy sessions can cost an average of $2,000, not including supplies and time spent by patients in daily sessions, according to the National Lymphedema Network. But if the new study leads to a shift in physicians' recommendations, perhaps...
Before she was debilitated by lymphedema, Colmes enjoyed frequent visits to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and performances of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, her daughter said...