Introduction

Breast cancer (BC) survivors experience and develop limitations of joint range and muscle strength, predisposing them to biomechanical alterations in and around the structures of the shoulder joint following axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). Scapular dyskinesia is one of the common post-operative complications following treatment of ALND, which is often missed in the initial assessment, and which could result in impaired shoulder kinematics and function. The altered biomechanical component of the scapula results in shoulder dysfunction and impairment. A rehabilitation regime that concentrates on functional deficit will address the issues raised concerning the surgery. Thus, the purpose of the study was to determine the effect of shoulder bracing exercise using a Thera-Band for scapular dyskinesis among post-operative BC survivors.

Material and methods

In this study a total of 25 subjects were enrolled based on the selection criteria. Pre-test evaluation for scapular kinematics was measured using Kinovea software. Shoulder bracing exercises using a Thera-Band were incorporated, followed by post-intervention evaluation.

Results

After the statistical analysis, the pre-test value for scapular position was 8.94 ±0.53 and the mean post-test value was 7.75 ±0.55. The results show that there was a significant difference in the p-value (< 0.001) regarding the scapular position.

Conclusions

The study suggested that shoulder bracing with Thera-Band training helps to improve the scapular kinematics and the overall function of the shoulder joint among BC survivors.