Impact of different treatment methods on arm’s function and quality of life for women after breast cancer operation

Research problem: After breast cancer operation, the arm function may be affected by: decreased range of motion, muscle strength, lymphoedema, pain and discomfort. After operation women experience decreased mood and worsening in quality of life. There are different modalities of treatment to improve affected arm function and quality of life. Research object: affected arm function and quality of life improvement Purpose: to determine the impact of different treatment methods to arms' function and quality of life after breast cancer operation. Hypothesis: we consider that multi-layer compression bandaging will have a bigger impact on affected arm function and quality of life than just physiotherapy or kinesiotaping alone. Goals of study: 1. To determine and compare the pain level, muscle strength, range of motion, disability and lymphoedema of patients with affected arm after different methods of treatment. 2. To determine and compare changes in quality of life after different methods of treatment. Conclusions: 1. There was a significant increase in range of motion of the arm, muscle strength, decrease in pain intensity, lymphoedema and disability when applying different methods of treatment. However, using multi-layer compression bandaging method, pain levels and changes in size of arm decreased the most. 2. There was established significant effect of physiotherapy, multi – layer compression bandaging and kinesiotaping on improving the quality of life, however, emotional status, physical activity and restrictions of activities due to physical complaints improved the most when applying multi-layer compression bandaging. 3. Multi-layer compresion bandaging was shown to be the best method for improving arm function and quality of life those who underwent breast cancer surgery