Axillary clearance and cording

Hi, 

I had an axillary clearance last August, and also experienced cording, right down to my hand. At one point I could barely even lift my arm. 

The key is movement.

Try getting into a little routine of light stretching, and circular movements a few times a day. Whatever you feel you can manage. I found after a few weeks the cording improved massively. Try to use your arm as much as is comfortable for you. 

A year on and I have little niggles and slight problems raising my arm but almost fully functional

You should have been given some exercises to do from your surgeon or team. Or you can just make your own up like i did. 

Wishing you all the best for your continued recovery x

Hi. 

I had axillary node clearance earlier this year and suffered with really bad cording, I couldn’t straighten my arm out it was so tight. I was referred to physio, weekly at first then down to three weekly. It made the world of difference and soon went so do speak to your breast care nurse and get her to refer you. 

As it happens when I first visited the radiologist to discuss radiotherapy and sign up etc, she had a look at my armpit as I’d had a bit of a collection of fluid in there. She saw that I had some cording and advised me to use moisturiser or coconut oil and massage the cord up and down its  length holding it between my finger and thumb. It worked really well. I didn’t need to have radiotherapy to that area anyway as my cleared nodes had all been cancer free..