Occupational Therapy

Click here for Post-Mastectomy Brochure
A breast cancer diagnosis is the start of a life-changing and challenging journey. Your breast cancer treatment can be life-saving, but can result in residual physical impairments that can affect your daily functioning.

Our Goal

• Educate you and your loved ones
• Alleviate or prevent residual physical impairments and help you return to previous life activities
• Improve your overall health and wellness

Following breast surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation, you may experience some of the following:

• Severe tightness in the breast, chest or upper arm
• Loss of range of motion and/or strength in the arm, shoulder, or neck
• Decreased ability to perform activities of daily living
• Postural changes and accompanying myofascial pain
• Chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy (numbness/sensation disturbances)
• Balance deficits
• Swelling
• Lymphedema
• Cancer-Related fatigue

What does the Post-Mastectomy Program consist of?
At Franciscan Healthcare, our occupational therapist will provide education and develop a personalized therapy program that may include:

• Manual therapy – to minimize scar tissue, increase soft tissue and/or joint mobility, increase range of motion, and improve lymphatic flow
• Therapeutic exercise – to improve posture, balance, range of motion, strength, and endurance to improve your overall function
• Modalities – heat, ice, electrical stimulation and therapeutic ultrasound can help alleviate residual pain and numbness

Post-Mastectomy Program FAQS

• To get started within the program, a physician needs to write an order for an occupational therapy evaluation and treat
• You will undergo an evaluation and then subsequent treatment sessions will be scheduled as needed
• At your evaluation, you may be asked questions about the type of surgical procedure that was performed, any cosmetic procedures completed or planned, history of past or present chemotherapy or radiation, any other significant medical history, and a description of your typical daily activities and goals for therapy
• You will likely be set up on a home exercise program to maximize functional outcomes

For more information about the Post-Mastectomy program at Franciscan Healthcare at (402) 372-2372.

Your Rights After a Mastectomy- Women’s Health & Cancer Rights Act of 1998

Under WHCRA, group health plans, insurance companies, and health maintenance organizations (HMOS) offering mastectomy coverage also must provide coverage for certain services relating to mastectomy in a manner determined in consultation with your attending physician and you.

This coverage includes all stages of reconstruction of the breast on which the mastectomy was performed, surgery and reconstruction of the other breast to produce a symmetrical appearance, prostheses, and treatment of physical complications of mastectomy, including lymphedema.