We decided to review the outcomes of a group of women
who had attended a “reducing your risk of lymphoedema”
education and advice class (taught by author EJ) between
2000 and 2005; to our knowledge, none of the women subsequently
reported development of BCRL. The class had
included teaching of a simple exercise programme which
had originally been developed by the author (EJ) in 2000
at the request of women with BCRL who wanted to know
how to safely return to pre-treatment exercise; they wished
to recommence activities such as gym, playing tennis, golf,
without triggering or exacerbating BCRL. So we wanted
to know whether the “at risk” group had in fact achieved
better lymphoedema outcomes than might be expected
in such a group. Also, we knew that some women with
established BCRL (n = 21) had used the bespoke exercise
programme added to usual care and demonstrated a small
but clinically and statistically significant greater reduction
in excess limb volume (ELV) when compared to usual care
alone (Jeffs and Wiseman 2013).