Cording

Hi ksteel22, sorry to hear you have some cording. I had a little bit of cording after my first op but it wasn’t bad and I continued with the exercises. Unfortunately as I had to have a second op to remove lymph nodes I have had to start again. At the moment there is no cording. 
I don’t know how long cording takes to resolve and I can understand how frustrating it is. Hopefully the physio appointment will come through soon so they can advise on some other types of exercises to help.

I hope someone who has had more experience of is able to help you shortly.

wishing you all the best,

hugs from cuffcake x x x x x

I had a small amount of cording after mastectomy, diep and lymph node removal, my advice is do the exercises where you put your hands behind your ears and bat wing forward and then back aligning with your shoulders 10 times slowly, always work with your body and each time push it until it’s tight but slow, then, next, fingers on shoulders elbows horizontal to body up and down as far as you can. Again being mindful of the stretch again 10, then, fingers on shoulders elbows facing forward, up and down 10. Do this regularly throughout the day, on the loo, while the kettle boils, bath runs, etc! Watching tv, do it a few times a night, before bed, etc. each time it’ll get easier and it’ll start to ease hopefully, mine has. Massage it all too. All the best x

I had mild cording following surgery and it took a good 6-9 months to go away completely. I didn't do anything other than sometimes massaging it as it wasn't affecting my range of motion. I did diligently do my arm exercises though as I was quite stiff for a long time after radiotherapy so those exercises helped to stretch everything out.

I had some axillary nodes removed in January and developed some light cording afterwards. I was kind of fine at first and very eager with my exercises, but I made the mistake of easing off after a couple of months when I thought I felt fine which is when the cording started. Since June I started to see a physio every few weeks who massages the area and also has given me a range of simple exercises to do at home. I was advised to go very easy on my arm/shoulder at the gym and to avoid exercises that contract the pectorals as much as possible for the first few months.

My physio explained to me that after the op, the tissues and muscles constantly try to contract so as soon as you stop stretching every day, it will naturally start to contract again, so it's important to keep it up in the long term even when you feel fine. The physio and stretches have helped a lot and I would say that since October (9 months after op) I no longer feel any cording, and am almost back to normal at the gym, but I still keep up physio sessions and stretches at home!

Best of luck with your recovery!

Thank you! ️

Thank you! I’m still waiting to see the physio so hopefully that won’t be long. I’ve found a YouTube video online that explains extra stretches to do for cording so I’ve been doing those a good few times a day and it is easing off! I’ve been told by the breast care nurses that I can go swimming and that can help it too. I’ll try anything! 
Thanks for getting back to me x

Thank you x

Yes, I should have mentioned, but swimming is great and really helped me - particularly backstroke/front crawl!