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Effects of Progressive Upper Limb Exercises and Muscle Relaxation Training on Upper Limb Function and Health-Related Quality of Life Following Surgery in Women with Breast Cancer: A Clinical Randomized Controlled Trial

  • Breast Oncology
  • Published:
Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of progressive upper limb exercises and muscle relaxation training (PULE-MRT) on upper limb function and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) following surgery in Chinese mainland women with breast cancer (BC).

Methods

Overall, 102 patients following surgery (i.e. mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery, with sentinel lymph node biopsy or axillary lymph node dissection) were randomly allocated to the intervention (n = 51) or control (n = 51) groups. The former received PULE-MRT plus routine nursing care, whereas the latter received only routine nursing care for 6 months. Upper limb function and HRQoL were measured at baseline and 1, 3, and 6 months using Constant–Murley scores (CMS) and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast version 4.0 (FACT-Bv4.0), respectively.

Results

All patients in the intervention group completed the exercises and training, with 100% compliance and no adverse events. The intervention group had significantly higher total CMS and FACT-Bv4.0 scores at 1-, 3-, and 6-month follow-up than the control group. The significant effects in total CMS comparisons were group (F = 25.30, p < 0.001), time (F = 18.02, p < 0.001), and group-by-time interaction (F = 9.95, p < 0.001), and, in FACT-Bv4.0, total score comparisons were group (F = 15.87, p < 0.001), time (F = 17.92, p < 0.001), and group-by-time interaction (F = 7.88, p < 0.001). Similar results were observed for the scale scores of CMS and FACT-Bv4.0.

Conclusions

PULE-MRT had positive effects on improving upper limb function and HRQoL following surgery in women with BC and could be used as an optional rehabilitation management strategy in post-surgery BC patient populations.

Trial Registration ChiCTR-IOR-16008253 (Chictr.org.cn; 9 April 2016).

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Acknowledgment

We thank the Breast Cancer Surgical Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University for their support.

Funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number 81502700) to KZ. No other authors received any grants related to this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Centre, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China

    Kaina Zhou PhD, Wen Wang MS candidate, Jinghua An PhD candidate, Minjie Li PhD candidate, Jin Li PhD & Xiaomei Li PhD

Authors
  1. Kaina Zhou PhD
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  2. Wen Wang MS candidate
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  3. Jinghua An PhD candidate
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  4. Minjie Li PhD candidate
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  5. Jin Li PhD
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  6. Xiaomei Li PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaomei Li PhD.

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Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Standards

All procedures were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study protocol received ethical approval from the Biomedical Ethics Committee of Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Center (reference 2015-170).

Informed Consent

Written informed consent was obtained from all patients included in the study, prior to data collection.

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Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Participant selection process (TIFF 1285 kb)

10434_2019_7305_MOESM2_ESM.eps

Changes in the Constant–Murley scores from baseline to 6 months after surgery. ADL activities of daily living, ROM range of motion (EPS 192 kb)

10434_2019_7305_MOESM3_ESM.eps

Changes in the FACT-Bv4.0 scores from baseline to 6 months after surgery. FACT-Bv4.0 Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast version 4.0 (EPS 217 kb)

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Zhou, K., Wang, W., An, J. et al. Effects of Progressive Upper Limb Exercises and Muscle Relaxation Training on Upper Limb Function and Health-Related Quality of Life Following Surgery in Women with Breast Cancer: A Clinical Randomized Controlled Trial. Ann Surg Oncol 26, 2156–2165 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-019-07305-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-019-07305-y

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