NCT06918184

Timing of Specific Exercise Therapy After Breast Cancer Surgery: Early Versus Delayed Initiation

Timing of Specific Exercise Therapy After Breast Cancer Surgery: A Single-Center, Parallel-Group Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Early (<1 Week Postoperative) Versus Delayed (3 Weeks Postoperative) Initiation for Optimized Upper Limb Function

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 140 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Al Hayah University In Cairo · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This single-center, parallel-group randomized controlled trial (RCT) will compare two timings for initiating specific exercise therapy after breast cancer surgery. The study tests whether early initiation (within the first postoperative week) versus delayed initiation (at 3 weeks postoperative) results in superior upper limb function at 6 months as measured by the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaire. Secondary outcomes include pain intensity (Visual Analog Scale, VAS) and wound-related complications such as drainage time and hematoma incidence.

Conditions

• Breast Cancer

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Specific Exercise Therapy	The exercise protocol includes mobilisation and stretching with 40-minute sessions twice weekly for 8 weeks post-initiation, transitioning to a home-based maintenance phase for 4 months. All sessions will be supervised by certified physiotherapists.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-04-15
• Primary completion: 2026-11-15
• Completion: 2026-11-15
• First posted: 2025-04-09
• Last updated: 2025-04-09

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Egypt