Are you a breast cancer survivor who wants her strength back? Have you been looking to get back into an exercise routine but are unsure about what is safe for you to do? You’ve come to the right place.
Many breast cancer survivors want to know: Is exercise is safe during cancer treatment or after treatment is complete? The Strength After Breast Cancer (SABC) program is a new clinical partnership between the Penn Medicine and Good Shepherd Penn Partners: Penn Therapy and Fitness.
Strength After Breast Cancer program is a new program for breast cancer survivors that educates survivors about lymphedema and helps them to build strength. After just a few months, the program is quickly gaining popularity among patients and medical professionals in the breast cancer community.
The feedback from participants has been extremely helpful in shaping the program, with the goal being to deliver the best education possible to patients and empowering women to be strong-- beyond breast cancer, beyond therapy - for life.
Those of us involved in the program plan to continue to integrate the great feedback we are receiving in order to improve the program. Our hope is to develop a positive buzz due to the “word of mouth” of those who have completed the program.
What Women are Saying about Strength After Breast Cancer
Even after cancer treatment, women are finding their bodies are strong and are learning valuable information from their activity leaders and peers, while gaining support along the way.“I’m learning to use my body in a way that I never thought I could before cancer….and surely not after cancer.”
“The human body has a second circulation, the lymphatic system. I never knew how important this was, especially for women with breast cancer.”
“I learned a lot from my peers, and exercising in a group setting enabled me to learn more quickly than I would have on my own.”
Women in the program are providing great feedback about what they like about their classes and exercise sessions.
“The class instructors were great; they really explained the exercises well. They supplied me with everything I need to be able to continue to do this on my own.”
“It was great to be in a class where everyone is just like you. We all could relate to each other and it was a great learning experience.”
“The small class size made it easy to get individual attention when I needed it.”
“I have been doing my exercises every day, but have some general questions. I wish there was someone I could follow up with without making another appointment.”
“The materials that I received for doing the program at home are great, but an online resource you can visit to get the same information and updates would be even better; or maybe instructional exercise videos so that you can get a refresher if you need it.”
For more information about the Strength After Breast Cancer program, visit PennMedicine.org or email fitpal@upenn.edu.
To speak directly with a therapist about the program, please call 215-662-4793.
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Strength Training Helps Breast Cancer Patients
Penn's Abramson Cancer Center is a national cancer center in Philadelphia providing comprehensive cancer treatment, clinical trials for cancer and is a cancer research center. The National Cancer Institute has designated the Abramson Cancer Center a Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of only 40 such cancer centers in the United States.
