Yoga management of breast cancer-related lymphoedema

Background. Breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer in women. In spite of improvements to surgical and radiotherapy treatment, at least 20% of treated women will continue to be diagnosed with breast cancer-related lymphoedema (BCRL) that requires lifelong treatment and management. there is growing evidence to support the use of progressive and supervised exercise for women with BCRL with adequate warm-up, cool-down, appropriate rests and suitable training of staff. This evidence have reported fewer exacerbations of lymphoedema, increased strength, reductions in symptoms, and improvements in QOL. In light of this, research into other holistic interventions, including yoga, for women with BCRL has been recommended. This practices have been reported to improve the psychosocial functioning of women during and after breast cancer treatment and may be transferrable to women with BCRL. The aim of this literature review was to obtain preliminary data todetermine the effect of yoga on women with BCRL. Materials and Methods: Database Browser using ISI and Google Scholar, pubmed, Science direct and 30 articles in Medline for the period 2000 to 2014 in this area was accessed. Among the found articles, articles that met inclusion criteria were selected for the present paper were used. Conclusion: The findings of these studies have shown that Yoga intervention did not exacerbatelymphoedema and improved tissue induration of the affected upper arm and the QOL sub-scale of symptoms.

Keywords:

Yoga , Breast cancer-related lymphoedema , Symptoms , Quality of life