Physical Therapy

I asked my oncologist to write me a prescription for Physical Therapy (PT). I did not realize that I needed a prescription for this since I had never needed PT before. Initially I asked for this treatment because of lymphatic build up on the right side of my face and neck. I began PT a few months after my cancer treatment was over, once my skin was healed from the radiation burns. Probably about 6 months or so after my surgery.

The lymphatic system is part of the circulatory. It filters your blood and plays an important role in defending your immune system.

The green in this picture represents your lymphatic system.

I had levels 1-3 of my lymph nodes removed through a neck dissection surgery when I had my hemiglossectomy. Lymphedema is swelling associated with lymph node removal.

My first Physical Therapist focused on manually draining the fluid by lightly massaging my face, neck, chest, and under my armpit area. It really helped! She showed me how to wrap my face and gave me this stretchy, tight, ace bandage like stuff to wear while I sleep. But it would always fall off while I slept. I tried to wear it at home as much as I could. The pressure from the wrap helped to drain the lymphatic fluid from my face. Eventually after a few months of therapy, my fluid started to drain on its own a lot better. I still see some swelling, especially in the morning when I wake up. It goes down on its own in an hour or so as long as I remain vertical and don’t lay back down. Some days I notice it more than others. I have noticed that when I get sick I see more fluid buildup in my face and I gently massage the area to manually drain it.

This video explains how physical therapy can help head and neck cancer patients after treatment.

My second Physical Therapist specialized in dry needling therapy. My radiation treatments caused the muscles in my jaw, neck, and back to hurt chronically. The radiated muscles in my neck were also thick and firm and restricted my range of motion. I also suffer from Tempo Mandibular Joint disorder (TMD) from clenching/grinding my teeth for most of my life. My TMD didn’t cause much discomfort until after my radiation treatments which caused my jaw muscles to become easily inflamed during everyday activities such as eating and talking. The TMD therapy that my PT performed on me also helped to stretch the skin and muscles on my face and neck that were thick and scarred from radiation.  

My PT performed massage and dry needling therapy to relieve my pain in addition to exercises that I was responsible for completing on my own to relieve my pain and increase the range of motion in my jaw and neck. Dry needling softened the scar tissue in my neck which was firm from fibrosis (thickening from scarring.)

This video explains and demonstrates dry needling and trigger point therapy.

Here are some Physical Therapy exercises to help with neck pain and to stretch the muscles to improve range of motion and ease fibrosis.

Exercises also help to relieve the Charley Horse muscle spasms that I get in my neck under the floor of my mouth. These usually happen towards the end of the day when I’ve talked a lot and over worked the base of my tongue. The muscles with tense up and become very painful. I have to stretch my neck by looking up to stretch the muscles to get them to release.