Cording & Physical Therapy

Hello to all my readers!  I realize I've been slacking quite a bit when it comes to updating my blog.  I've been incredibly busy at work, and I've been struggling to keep up with my day-to-day activities.  Today, I'm making time to update my true love--my blog!

As I neared the end of my radiation therapy in August 2014, I began having a tightening feeling from my arm pit that radiated down my arm into my elbow and even into my wrist.  It felt like something pulling and stinging.  I had been going to the gym regularly, so I thought I had damaged something while working out.  I stopped going to the gym, and it did get better for a while.  But, it came back this winter,  I found I could alleviate it to a degree when I stretched on a regular basis, but that tight, tugging feeling never really left. 

While laying in bed several weeks ago, I was rubbing my arm and stretching it above my head trying to get the discomfort to ease up.  It was really starting to hurt in my elbow and causing me to have difficulties reaching for things or extending my arm.  I realized I could feel what felt like ropes or cords going down the bottom/underside of my arm.  The cords began in my armpit and extended down to my elbow.  And their were a lot of them!  I recalled reading about cording when I was first diagnosed, but I didn't pay much attention to it.  I was focused on chemo and every other part of my treatment process at that time.  So I Googled "cording" to educate myself as I was fairly certain that's what was going on.  I found several great videos that explain what cording is, and after watching them, I knew without a doubt I had a bad case of cording. 

Cording is simply scar tissue that's formed and is attaching itself to normal tissue.  As it attaches to normal tissue, it puts tension on the normal tissue and that causes the tight feeling.  Movement and limited arm extension is caused from the cords preventing the tissue from moving freely.  I found some great stretches to alleviate cording, but I also read that the best thing to do was see my doctor and get into a Physical Therapist who could break the cords.  Once the cords are broken free from the tissue, they typically don't reattach, and the cording goes away.  I had an appointment coming up with my oncologist anyway, so I figured I'd ask her about it.  As I lay in bed trying to stretch my arm (now I knew I wasn't going to hurt myself and stretching was the best thing I could do), I used my right arm to push my left arm down flat against the floor.  I heard a loud pop, and I could feel a cord break in my arm.  It didn't hurt really.  It just felt like a guitar string breaking.  I actually felt relief when it broke, but I could still feel a lot more cords in my arm. 

I met with my oncologist a few days later.  She felt the cords, and immediately agreed I had quite a bit of cording going on.  Months worth since I had been ignoring it for a while.  I saw a physical therapist at the Stefanie Speilman Center two weeks ago, and she was able to break all the cords but two very stubborn ones.  When I say "all of them", I mean 10 cords. Yep, I had that many that broke between my arm pit to my wrist.  The scar tissue had attached in various places everywhere down my arm.  It hurt while she was stretching and pulling my arm, but it hurt in a good way.  It was an odd sensation.  There would be brief pain, then instant relief.  I walked out with two very stubborn cords still in place, and a referral to a Physical Therapist at Mountain River Therapy in Athens.  As much as I had tried to avoid it, I needed physical theraphy.

Since my Surgery almost one year ago, I've did stretches and my own physical therapy at home to re-gain my range of  motion in my left arm.  When I started, I couldn't raise my left arm more than three inches from my body.  In august, I could get it straight out from my body, and I can now get it straight up above my head.  While it's still tight and pulls, I have regained my range of motion, and it's been a lot of work!  I highly recommend stretching and doing range of motion exercises at home to ensure you regain normal use of your arm.  The cording is not a result of anything I did or didn't do.  No amount of stretching or not stretching would have prevented it.  It just happens with some people.  I'm one of the lucky ones I guess. 

I've had two Physical Therapy appointments in Athens, and she hasn't been able to break the two remaining cords either.  They seem to be very deep, and it's making it difficult to break them since I have full range of motion in my arm, and even with my arm completely extended, they don't break or "pop".  She does a great job working my the nerves under my arm and awakening those nerve endings that have felt deadened since my surgery.  I wish I had gone sooner now! 

I will continue to go to physical therapy once per week until we can get these last stubborn cords to break, but I will also go to try to strengthen and loosen my pectorial muscle.  It's very tight from my surgeries, and it's causing some shoulder pain and discomfort.  She's confident she can get me feeling as normal as possible after all I've been through, so I plan to keep going.  Maybe I will be doing those back flips again at some point this summer?  Okay, maybe I'll start with a cartwheel!  =)