FLEXIBILITY TRAINING AND SHOULDER MOBILITY IN WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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Item Details
- title
- FLEXIBILITY TRAINING AND SHOULDER MOBILITY IN WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER
- author
- Marshall, Lara Alexandra
- abstract
- Early diagnosis and treatment have led to 5-year survival rates of almost 90% among women diagnosed with breast cancer. Although shoulder mobility declines have been observed, there is little known about whether women are engaging in flexibility programs during treatment. Purpose: To prospectively document the prevalence of flexibility training and range of motion and to assess the relationship between training and shoulder mobility in breast cancer survivors (BCS). Methods: Data were collected at diagnosis, 6- and 12-months post-surgery. Meeting flexibility guidelines was defined as 2 or more days per week of stretching to improve flexibility. Shoulder mobility was operationalized as flexion and abduction measured by goniometry. Results: BCS (n=396) were on average 57.2 11.9 years and diagnosed with early stage breast cancer (90.7% Stage 0-II). 77 (19.4%), 43 (31.4%), and 44 (28.9%) met the flexibility guidelines at baseline, 6- and 12-months, respectively. Although measures of shoulder mobility fell within normal limits prior to treatment, both measures of range of motion significantly (p<.01) declined over 12-months. Participating in more flexibility training was significantly (p<.05; p<.01) correlated with better flexion and abduction at 6-months (r = .217 and .253, respectively). Conclusions: Flexibility training at 6- months was associated with better flexion and abduction. Future research should examine the efficacy of supervised flexibility programs for improving shoulder mobility into survivorship.
- subject
- Breast cancer
- Flexibility
- Range of Motion
- Shoulder
- contributor
- Mihalko, Shannon L (committee chair)
- Brubaker, Peter H (committee member)
- Berry, Michael (committee member)
- date
- 2020-05-29T08:35:58Z (accessioned)
- 2020 (issued)
- degree
- Health and Exercise Science (discipline)
- embargo
- 2025-06-01 (terms)
- 2025-06-01 (liftdate)
- identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10339/96818 (uri)
- language
- en (iso)
- publisher
- Wake Forest University
- type
- Thesis