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Breast Cancer: Tight chest wall following radiation

Breast Cancer | Last Active: Jan 3 1:56pm | Replies (11)

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Hi Nancy - Thanks for throwing this question out there, looking for inputs to this problem too. So your radition must have been only last year, your post says June 2022 but you must have meant June 2021 base on all the various therapies you tried. My radiation and mastectomy were 7 years ago. I tried stretches recommended by therapist, massage (hard to find a masseuse comfortable/knowledgeable with post surgery/radiation), daily sauna, swimming, yoga, etc. My input to you would be while there is no magic solution, do keep at anything that seems to help even a little bit and that it will take lots of time, it will improve, but never really go away. I understand the frustration as with that constant tightness I never feel 'normal' in the chest area. I believe it is more of a muscle issue then a tendon or fashia issue but I have no data to back that up, just my believe based on my experience. Therefore, just like any other muscle, stretching and massaging will be part continual routine of staying fit and limber. I do monthly professional massages with a masseuse that specializes in shoulders, I do regular self massage to the front, I use massage cups sometimes which are great. It helps to put heat to the area first, hot damp washcloths are great for that. Even with all that there are certain positions (such as certain yoga positions) that tend to cramp up the area that was most heavily radiated. I have accepted that it is a lifetime scar that just needs to be managed and I know it is terrible but it seems similar to if you over microwave meat and it gets rubbery. there is no recovery from that, so I am glad I have most use/function of the muscle even if it takes continual management to have it. That doesn't change that with each breath I take I feel that tightness. Sorry not better news and I hope you don't find this discouraging but this is all information that I wish someone had just been upfront with me about from the beginning. Keep moving and keep active. It does get better, don't think it ever completely goes away, but maybe you will have a better experience then I and get full recovery some time down the road.

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Replies to "Hi Nancy - Thanks for throwing this question out there, looking for inputs to this problem..."

@blue850- I am seeing your post years after you wrote it. So you are now about 10 years post treatment and hopefully doing well. I stumbled upon this Mayo clinic forum after searching for answers for the very same issues you address here. I finished radiation exactly one year ago and had a revision on my implant four months ago. It is already tightening, getting higher, and and painful just as it was after radiation . And the chest tightness feeling/shortness of breath sensation and arm tightness under my right arm is always a struggle. So I'm back to trying to stretch constantly. I greatly value your perspective on this subject so I can be more realistic and not so discouraged. I don't normally comment on these kinds of things. So I really hope you see that I appreciate your post for what I'm going through right now.