Treatments
Cancer treatment can be a bit like running a marathon — it's mentally and emotionally stressful. By educating you about what to expect, your rehab team can take away some of the worry, giving you more energy to focus on healing.
Like running a long race, going through cancer treatment is hard on your body. Similar to athletic coaches, our physical therapists help you get into the best possible shape before you start.
We can design a prehabilitation exercise program to decrease side effects from treatment. That means less swelling after breast cancer surgery and fewer problems with urine leakage after radiation for prostate cancer. The program can feature exercises in the clinic with a therapist or exercises you can do at home.
Physical and occupational therapists can tell you how to recognize early warning signs of surgery-related swelling, called lymphedema. Detecting this problem as soon as possible and getting treatment from our certified lymphedema therapists can help keep it in check.
A prehabilitation exercise program increases your strength and energy and lessens treatment-related tiredness. It's good for your mood and mental health. Plus, exercise shortens your recovery and gives you the best chance of returning to your precancer activity level.
During and after treatment, side effects like weakened muscles make it harder for you to perform daily activities. Our occupational therapists are experts at finding ways for you to do the things you need to do. For instance, we tell you how to pace yourself to conserve your energy. We also suggest changes for certain activities. Or recommend gadgets or small changes in your home to make everyday tasks easier.
Our occupational and physical therapists teach you techniques for reducing pain resulting from chemotherapy-related nerve sensitivity. Both our occupational and speech therapists give you strategies for coping with "chemo-brain." And our speech therapists can treat problems with swallowing or speaking after treatment for head or neck cancer.
- Attention and word-finding issues
- Balance impairment and falling
- Bone, joint and muscle pain
- Cognitive (thinking) fatigue
- Incontinence
- Memory problems
- Muscle weakness
- Painful intercourse
- Pelvic pain
- Speech difficulties
- Swallowing problems
- Swelling/lymphedema
- Tingling in the feet, legs, arms and hands
