Osteopathic manipulative treatment for post mastectomy lymphedema: A case report

The purpose of present case study was to explore the efficacy of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) on post mastectomy lymphedema (PML) induced disabilities. 55 year old female who presented with the chief complaint of swelling in the right upper extremity along with pain in the neck, arm and thoracic spine hindering her activities of daily living (ADL). The OMT sessions were planned as 2 sessions per week for 5 weeks. The OMT resulted in the reduction in the volume of the lymph, modified truncated cone method (1878ml to 564ml), pain level, visual analogue scale (VAS) (7.8 to 3.4), disability of the upper limb, Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) Score (33.56 to 5.04) and improvement in quality of life, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Breast Cancer-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-BR23) (31.28 to 34.22). The OMT might be an effective treatment option in the management of patients with PML.