A word in the mouth of a physician is as dangerous as a scalpel in the hand of the surgeon, Eugene Bauer, M.D. 1931
Women who have had breast surgery for cancer do not have more lymphedema with exercise according to a new study published in JAMA. This is an important finding because the myth has been that exercise could cause edema in women who had lymph node excision during surgery. The study showed that not only were the women who exercised stronger, but that they had a lower incidence of edema.
There are other examples of exercise standards of care based on misinformation. Many back pain patients I have seen were told not to do sit-ups because of disc problems. Since more people have degenerated, bulging and herniated discs without significant pain than those with pain, the imaging finding of disc problems may not be a contributing source of pain. Making someone believe they are damaged (when they are not) and forever must be on guard to prevent further damage, is not helpful.
Norman Marcus Pain Institute, New York NY “Your New York City pain relief Doctor”
Tagged with: pain relief
Filed under: back pain posts
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