Clinical trial · Interventional
Nerve Mobilization Techniques After Breast Cancer Surgery
Effectiveness of Nerve Mobilization Techniques at Improving Upper Limb Morbidity Following Breast Cancer Surgery
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Objective: To determine whether adding neurodynamic mobilization to early postoperative physiotherapy improves long-term shoulder disability after breast cancer surgery with axillary lymph node dissection. Design: prospective randomized and single blind trial where participants will be randomly allocated into two groups by EPIDAT 3.1 software. Follow-up will be conducted through seven physical therapy assessments: one before surgery, the second one after surgery, the third one post-physical therapy intervention, the fourth one after three months, the fifth after six months and, the sixth one after twelve months, and the seven one after 24 months. Participants: one hundred and forty women, who are undergoing a unilateral breast cancer surgery with axillary lymph node dissection in the Breast Cancer Unit from "Príncipe de Asturias" Hospital. Intervention: Early physical therapy to control group and Early physical therapy plus nerve mobilization to intervention group during the three following weeks from surgery. Mechanosensitivity-related symptoms will be assessed using the Upper Limb Neurodynamic Test 1 (ULNT1) before and after surgery. The primary outcome will be shoulder disability, measured with the disability subscale of the Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI). Secondary outcomes will include shoulder pain related to activities of daily living and the total SPADI score.
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breast Cancer Female | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Control group | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Neural mobilization group | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Neural mobilization group
- description
- 3 to 5 days after surgery, the participants assigned to this group will receive 9 sessions of early physical therapy plus educational program (described in Torres Lacomba M) plus neurodynamic techniques consisting of neural tissue longitudinal glide using the Upper Limb Neurodynamic Test 1 (ULNT1), the neurodynamic test sequence for the median nerve, described by Butler and adapted by de la Rosa. With participants in the supine position, the shoulder was abducted and externally rotated, the scapula depressed, the forearm supinated, and the wrist and fingers extended. Mobilization was applied by depressing the scapula, flexing the elbow, and elevating the scapula, extending the elbow, within a pain-free range. The mobilization was applied for 2 minutes. Each session will be of 40 minutes approximately and will be held 3 sessions a week for 3 weeks.
- interventionNames
- Other: Neural mobilization group
- Other: Control group
- type
- ACTIVE_COMPARATOR
- label
- Control group
- description
- 3 to 5 days after surgery, the participants assigned to this group will receive 9 sessions of early physical therapy plus educational program (described in Torres Lacomba M). Each session will be of 40 minutes approximately and will be held 3 sessions a week for 3 weeks.
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- Female
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
- Maximum age
- 70 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Women treated for unilateral breast cancer with surgery, including axillary lymph node dissection at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of "Príncipe de Asturias" Hospital * No contraindication to physical therapy * Informed consent read, understood, and freely signed Exclusion Criteria: * Bilateral breast cancer * Systemic disease (metastases) * Infection * Loco regional recurrence * Chemotherapy as a neoadjuvant treatment
References
Publications (4)
- BACKGROUNDTorres Lacomba M, Yuste Sanchez MJ, Zapico Goni A, Prieto Merino D, Mayoral del Moral O, Cerezo Tellez E, Minayo Mogollon E. Effectiveness of early physiotherapy to prevent lymphoedema after surgery for breast cancer: randomised, single blinded, clinical trial. BMJ. 2010 Jan 12;340:b5396. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b5396. PMID 20068255
- BACKGROUNDde la Rosa-Diaz I, Torres-Lacomba M, Acosta-Ramirez P, Orive IG, Nee RJ, de la Villa-Polo P, Andres-Esteban EM, Sanchez-Sanchez B. Protective myoelectric activity at performing upper limb neurodynamic test 1 in breast cancer survivors. A cross-sectional observational study. Musculoskelet Sci Pract. 2018 Aug;36:68-80. doi: 10.1016/j.msksp.2018.05.003. Epub 2018 May 22. PMID 29860136
- BACKGROUNDTorres-Lacomba M, Prieto-Gomez V, Arranz-Martin B, Ferrandez JC, Yuste-Sanchez MJ, Navarro-Brazalez B, Romay-Barrero H. Manual Lymph Drainage With Progressive Arm Exercises for Axillary Web Syndrome After Breast Cancer Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Phys Ther. 2022 Mar 1;102(3):pzab314. doi: 10.1093/ptj/pzab314. PMID 35079831
- BACKGROUNDTorres-Lacomba M, Sanchez-Sanchez B, Prieto-Gomez V, Pacheco-da-Costa S, Yuste-Sanchez MJ, Navarro-Brazalez B, Gutierrez-Ortega C. Spanish cultural adaptation and validation of the shoulder pain and disability index, and the oxford shoulder score after breast cancer surgery. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2015 May 23;13:63. doi: 10.1186/s12955-015-0256-y. PMID 26001890