Cording after mastectomy

Hi MiSs independent welcome to the forum and so sorry to hear about what is happening for you.

The 9th of Jul is not a long time after your op and things will be healing and getting back to some degree of normality so it is very early day yet so dont give up on those  exercises keep doing them regardless as this should resolve but it my take some time yet.

Are you still in touch with the unit where you had your surgery or a breast nurse because if you are you can pesak to them about this and see if they could offer any words of wisdom or some physio exercises to loosen that cording.

Sending best wishes for now and please do keep in touch and let us know how you get on. xxxx

Thank you. The nurse just says it’s normal but could not give me an idea when it should ease. I will continue with the exercises they gave me and hope it’s sooner rather later x

I had the same, the chafing feeling was there for ages, and is not nice! I had the painful cording too. I just did loads of exercises every morning and night, and I pushed quite hard. Don't hurt yourself but you do need to do quite 'strong' stretches, and massage it loads too. It eventually just did go, but took quite a while. Now I only have numbness in my armpit and back of arm, but it's fine. I just do the exercises all the time now to keep it supple. Good luck!! Xx

Thank you. I’m glad you understood what I meant. That gives me hope and I will push on with the exercises x

I had the same in June after my operation in May. I kept doing all the exercises. My nurse recommend doing thing to keep stretching the arm like putting the washing out. I also made a thing of touching the door frame when moving round the house. Just little extras in addition to the exercises but what is manageable for you and doesn’t cause pain (if it hurts stop and speak to your nurse).

Also massaging the armpit area and the arm downwards towards the hand helps move the fluid. I found I have to be quite forceful for it to have any benefit.

I'm back to normal now with full movement but my Mum never fully got her mobility in her arm back after her operation before she sadly passed.

Hey! I had op 2 years ago and unfortunately still have cording. I did have physio for 3 months which did help. I still do exercises and stretches but there has been no further improvement. My surgeon says I have great mobility but I’m not convinced it couldnt be improved....x

Thank you

i will do the little extras too. 

So sorry to hear about your mum. Xxxx

sorry to hear that Galligirl

Do you still have the pain with it? 

I have had frozen shoulder in the past on both arms ( not together thankfully) so really don’t want that again.i have quite a bit of movement but it’s just so painful with the cording xx

Hi  I had cording after my MX last October and I was petrified that if I stretched too far I’d snap something drastic, it took a good while of tentative stretching to be brave enough to push a little bit more each day. I found in the shower a good place to stretch as the warm water helped. I just have numbness in my upper arm now and some phantom feelings of swellings sometimes that are not actual there!! A little bit more each day and you will get there, huge hugs xx

I have had issues with my shoulder- subsequent mri scan which showed I had arthritis (which I didn’t have 2 years ago when I had my bone scan) and some swelling in a joint. Two cortisone injections nd wow what a difference....to not only my shoulder but all my letrozole aching joints. Unfortunately aching joints returned after a couple of weeks. I have now started to get pains down my arm, lik a really heavy feeling that hurts! Plan to get back in contact with surgeon. It is frustrating and it also means I worry about secondaries...️