Purpose: Recent research indicates that physiotherapy interventions, such as exercise and manual therapy, may be effective in decreasing the frequency
of side effects linked with breast cancer treatment, including fatigue, pain, nausea, and decreased quality of life. This systematic review aims to determine
the efficacy of exercise therapy in reducing shoulder pain related to breast cancer treatment and to identify outcome measures that can be used to assess
shoulder pain in this population. Methods: A systematic review of the current literature was conducted using portals such as the Physiotherapy Evidence
Database (PEDro), the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE (1996 to April 2011), and Allied and
Complementary Medicine (AMED) (1985 to April 2011). Databases were searched for relevant studies published up to April 2011. Participants in relevant
studies were adults (b18 years of age) with a primary diagnosis of breast cancer at any point during the treatment of their disease. Results: Six articles
were independently appraised by two blinded reviewers. Six studies met the inclusion criteria, each analyzing different types of exercise—shoulder/arm/
scapular strengthening/stabilization, postural exercises, general exercises and conditioning, shoulder range-of-motion exercises, and lymphedema
exercises—with respect to their efficacy in reducing shoulder pain related to breast cancer treatment. Conclusions: Results suggest that exercise targeting
shoulder pain related to breast cancer treatment may be effective. However, definitive conclusions cannot be drawn due to the lack of methodological
quality and homogeneity of the studies included. Clinicians should use valid outcome measures, such as the visual analogue scale and brief pain inventory,
to evaluate the effectiveness of this treatment