Abstract
Background- Breast cancer being the most prevalent cancer amongst women has the highest survival rates amongst all cancer. Surgery is a part of therapeutic process that helps in preventing metastases. However, it can significantly diminish functional capacity in patients, hamper the quality of life and causes pain. Conventional physiotherapy contributes to its treatment with the use of different techniques that have been developed over years. Qigong therapy is a traditional Chinese medicine and also a moderate form of exercise that may help in improving the shoulder ROM along with pain reduction and hence improving quality of life.
Patients and methods-30 breast cancer survivors between age group 25 to 69(p<0.05) years of age were recruited from Dr. Prabhakar Kore K.L.E. hospital and MRC, Nehrunagar, Belagavi, Karnataka and KLE’s society Belgaum Cancer Hospital, Ashoknagar, Belagavi, Karnataka.
Method- Participants were randomly assigned to two group i.e. Group A (n=15) and were treated with Qigong therapy and Group B(n=15) were treated with Conventional Physiotherapy, both groups were treated for 14 sessions. Outcome was measured in terms of pain using VAS(Visual Analogue Scale) ,quality of life was assessed using Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast version+4 (FACT-B+4) questionnaire and Shoulder Range of Motion (ROM) using universal goniometer was recorded pre-intervention and post-intervention.
Results- The difference OF VAS scores was highly significant with p value of 0.0212*. the difference of FACT-B+4 score was highly significant with p value of 0.0175* and difference in terms of shoulder ROM showed highly significant with p value of 0.0001* in group A than Group B
Conclusion- Qigong therapy is better than conventional physiotherapy in reduction of pain improving quality of life and shoulder range of motion in post-surgical breast cancer survivors.
Keywords- Qigong therapy, Conventional physiotherapy, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast version+4 (FACT-B+4), Visual Analogue Scale(VAS), Shoulder Range of Motion(ROM).
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v4i6.51
