The journey after a breast cancer diagnosis is often filled with both physical and emotional challenges. Compassionate care is essential to healing. We’re sitting down today with breast oncology rehab specialist Jackie Eadi, PT, DPT, CLT of Spooner East Mesa, who is dedicated to creating personalized physical therapy programs that support survivors at every stage–helping them regain strength, mobility, and a sense of hope.
How do you tailor physical therapy programs to address the unique needs of breast cancer survivors, especially those dealing with issues like lymphedema or scar tissue?
Jackie Eadi: There are definitely a lot of different variables that can go into working with cancer rehab patients. I try to tailor individual programs based on where somebody is in their treatment journey and create programs based on that patient’s specific needs.
For example, if someone was going through radiation, I’ll typically incorporate manual lymphatic drainage and mobility exercises to help minimize risk of lymphedema and tightness following treatment. If someone presents with a lot of scar tissue, we will try some scar tissue mobilization and other manual therapy techniques to help minimize scaring and restriction. If someone presents with lymphedema, we will focus on manual lymphatic drainage to help reduce swelling and promote lymphatic flow. It really just depends on where people are in their journey, but there are a lot of different techniques that we’ll use to help address any impairments.
What emotional and physical challenges do you often experience with breast cancer patients during therapy and how do you provide support beyond the physical treatment?
Jackie Eadi: Each patient may present with a lot of different physical challenges depending on the type of surgery and treatments they have undergone. Limited range of motion, muscular weakness, and protective posturing are very common impairments. People tend to be impacted through thoracic spine, shoulder, and sometimes neck. Because of this, people tend to have difficulty reaching, dressing, doing their hair, and lifting. If someone has lymphedema that can impact how things move and heal. We try to address a lot of these impairments and challenges with manual therapy and exercise interventions.
There is also a big emotional component involved as well. Getting diagnosed with cancer changes your whole life. It is important to keep in mind everyone has their own journey. Since patients come to physical therapy multiple times per week, it provides so much opportunity for conversation and support. While I do manual therapy, I like to ask questions and talk through how a patient is feeling with their plan of care. I ask how they are feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally that day and how they are doing overall with treatment.
I try to focus on education about how to reduce anxiety and depression, stress management, diet, exercise, sleep etc. to help promote overall wellness. I will also try to provide any outside resources the patient might need, including social work or support groups and try connecting people together so they have a supportive community as well!
Can you share an experience where your physical therapy intervention made a noticeable difference in a breast cancer patient’s quality of life? How did you work with them to achieve this?
Jackie Eadi: There’s a lot of different situations that kind of come to mind. I have worked with many patients with lymphedema, which can be very scary and debilitating depending on its stage. Most people are aware that it’s a possibility but don’t realize how long-term it can be. I have worked with a couple patients who thought they were going to lose the function of their arm because of how bad their lymphedema was. By incorporating manual lymphatic drainage, finding the right type of compression garments, and incorporating exercises, we were able to avoid losing function and reduce swelling down to where it was manageable.
No matter where anyone is in their treatment journey, I try to create an all-inclusive plan of care where the focus is reaching patient goals and getting people back to doing what they love. I try to be encouraging and let patients know that anything is possible! We are here to help and to provide hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Learn more about how Spooner’s Oncology Rehabilitation can help support you or a loved one with their recovery from breast cancer. If you would like to schedule an appointment with Jackie, schedule an appointment today!