(dailyRx News)
The body doesn’t react well when lymph nodes go away, cancer patients included. When the nodes are removed, arms and legs can swell.

Exercise may be the best way to help cancer patients control and help lower fluid buildup, a new study has found.

This swelling is called lymphedema and is caused by radiation therapy and removing the lymph nodes, which collect debris and fluid throughout the body, during cancer treatment.

The chronic condition affects almost 40 percent of former breast cancer patients who can only manage symptoms since a complete cure does not exist. It can also affect other cancer patients.

The study, led by Sheila Ridner, PhD, RN, professor at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, looked at 16 studies on lymphedema published between 2010 and 2011.

The studies contained professional research or expert opinion and were specific to a person caring for his or her own symptoms.

Amongst the studies, 10 categories were identified for self-management.

These included:

• full-body exercise
• clothes and other devices that compress fluid
• aromatherapy
• complete decongestive therapy (phase 2, which involves manually draining fluid and bandaging the areas that are swollen, combined with exercise)
• managing infections
• losing weight
• skin care
• self-monitoring
• massage

They found exercise that uses the whole body, including stretching and weight lifting, could help minimize symptoms from lymphedema.

Three of the included studies showed that quality of life improved with full-body, core and weight lifting exercises of moderate-intensity, as well as dancing and stretching.

They also found complete decongestive therapy can also help. Patients may need help at the start with their bandages, and the practice previously hadn’t been done often.

Jane Armer, professor in the Sinclair School of Nursing at the University of Missouri and one of the co-authors, said previous research shows that “the earlier the interventions, the better the outcomes.”

“If patients can learn how to successfully manage the condition early on, then they can continue those processes throughout their lives, and their outcomes will be better than those of individuals who resist participating in self-care,” she said in a press release.

Future research should look into the effectiveness for each way of caring for the chronic condition.

The authors note few studies were included in their review, although they evaluated the ones that involved patients caring for their lymphedema.

No funding information was available and the authors have no conflicts of interest.

The study was published in the July/August issue of the journal Nursing Research.