Physiotherapy that gets post-cancer patients moving
THE last thing a cancer survivor probably wants to hear after completing surgery is that they should exercise. But this is exactly what physiotherapists advocate and facilitate as soon as a survivor has left the emergency room.
“Individuals tend to suffer from fatigue symptoms after surgery. So they are very demotivated,” explained physiotherapist Dr Bernadette Frankson. “Whereas before, people thought that it would be best to make them rest, research has actually shown that it is better to get them moving.”
Dr Frankson, who has been helping to restore people’s movement for almost 30 years, is also the president of the Jamaica Physiotherapy Association (JPA). The group started celebrating Physiotherapy Week yesterday, and until September 12, will be looking at physiotherapy as part of the multi-disciplinary approach in the treatment of cancer.
“We are the people who are the experts in movement and we have the responsibility from the health perspective in terms of educating for prevention and restoring wellness to people from not just the prevention view, but even getting people back to where their quality of life can be acceptable,” said the physiotherapist.
Getting cancer survivors to reach an acceptable quality of life can take days or months depending on the individual, the type of surgery that was conducted and whether or not the individual is eating right and exercising.
“There are different exercises, so exercise would start from day one. If it is even to get the patient out of the bed, that is a major milestone. Leaving someone inactive in bed is going to increase the risk of them getting pneumonia and deep vein thrombosis,” Dr Frankson said.
The doctor said a fitness test is done by the physiotherapist for patients upon the completion of their surgery, and then a specific fitness programme is designed to meet their needs. It is for this reason Dr Frankson thinks it’s best that persons visit a physiotherapist post-surgery, instead of going to the gym where they could possibly get lost in the crowd and are not properly supervised.
She said the physiotherapist would be able to apply the appropriate exercise to help alleviate the discomfort of the survivor after surgery.
“With the breast cancer patient for instance, they tend to get stiff shoulder, so the aim of physiotherapy would be to regain mobility and strength of the shoulder,” she said.
“If you have had someone who has had breast removed, they more than likely would require some respiratory physiotherapy as well in the early stages, so we get them breathing properly to reduce the risk of developing something like pneumonia happening after,” she added.
But exercise is not only necessary after carrying out a surgery such as a mastectomy, it is also important in preventing you from having one in the first place. Studies continue to show that exercise can significantly reduce one’s chances of having cancer. It is healthy lifestyle changes such as these that the JPA hopes to advocate during their week long celebration.
The group will also be placing reading material on healthy lifestyles and other issues at the Tom Redcam Library in Kingston and the Spanish Town and Portmore libraries in St Catherine.
