Muscle Problems

My chiropractor has been great with trying to get them back in alignment. They were so off after chemo.

I also took it easy on exercising after chemo, started small and built up. Four months after my treatments were over, I had started a cancer wellness fitness class. It was only the 2nd week and I over did it. We did a set of 10 lunges in the class. It felt okay at the time but the next day I could barely walk. My physical therapist says that my large muscles needed more time to recover between repetitions after chemo damage. Do one rep and rest for several minutes. Then try another rep. He thought doing 10 in a row was too much and my body could not reset. Physical therapy was the treatment. They taught me how to check the alignment of my hips and gave me ways to reset them if they were uneven. Then we worked on strengthening the different muscle groups that stabilize your hips.

Great question!

In fact, I've posted on my blog about this very topic:
http://breast-cancer-reconstruction.blogspot.com/2008/11/avoiding-denervation-of-abdominal.html

The DIEP flap procedure preserves all the abdominal muscle. However, preserving all the muscle won't matter if all the motor nerves supplying it have been cut during the surgery. A muscle without a healthy nerve supply will lose it's tone, strength and function.

If the DIEP surgeon does not take great care to identify and preserve motor nerves supplying the abdominal muscle then the benefits of the DIEP can be lost: the abdominal muscle can become weak, lose its tone, and the risk of abdominal bulging or even hernia increases. Occasionally a nerve has to be cut because it interferes with the blood supply of the flap (eg travels between 2 necessary perforators). In these instances the nerve should be repaired at the end of the procedure. Typically, damage to 1 motor nerve will not cause any issues long term; it's damage to multiple nerves that leads to muscle problems.

I hope that helps.

Dr C
http://www.PRMA-enhance.com Great question!

In fact, I've posted on my blog about this very topic:
http://breast-cancer-reconstruction.blogspot.com/2008/11/avoiding-denervation-of-abdominal.html

The DIEP flap procedure preserves all the abdominal muscle. However, preserving all the muscle won't matter if all the motor nerves supplying it have been cut during the surgery. A muscle without a healthy nerve supply will lose it's tone, strength and function.

If the DIEP surgeon does not take great care to identify and preserve motor nerves supplying the abdominal muscle then the benefits of the DIEP can be lost: the abdominal muscle can become weak, lose its tone, and the risk of abdominal bulging or even hernia increases. Occasionally a nerve has to be cut because it interferes with the blood supply of the flap (eg travels between 2 necessary perforators). In these instances the nerve should be repaired at the end of the procedure. Typically, damage to 1 motor nerve will not cause any issues long term; it's damage to multiple nerves that leads to muscle problems.

I hope that helps.

Dr C
http://www.PRMA-enhance.com