Since muscle fascia is removed during mastectomy and the surgical scars need time to heal, the upper body strength needs to be built up again, and the nervous system may need to rebuild some pathways.
Some useful exercises with light dumbbells are:
1. Standing: straight arm lifts up in front then move to side and lower. Reverse the movement.
2. Bend forward: straight arm lifts from hanging position to side of shoulders
3. Standing: dumbbells in front of body. Pull arms up, staying close to body, by bending the elbows.
4. Standing: dumbbells at the side of the body. Shrug shoulders up, keeping shoulders and neck straight
5. Supine on a bench: lifting dumbbells to the side and up ("pec flys")
A "light" weight is relative. I use 8 pounds. 2-3 sets with 10 repetitions. Start slow with less weight and less repetitions.
A digital massage gadget can be used by attaching patches with electrodes to the skin, and different programs can be selected for massage or nerve stimulation. If the level is set too high, the muscles contract. With four electrodes both sides of the chest can be stimulated (two electrodes on each side) to see whether there are any differences. In my case, the right side, where the sentinel lymph nodes were removed, can be painful, so a lower level is better.
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