Rehabilitation protocol in upper limb lymphedema
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Abstract
Edema of the upper limb is, frequently, very invalidating.
The physical treatment for edema of the upper limb consists on a combination of different therapies: manual lymphatic drainage (MLD), intermittent sequential pressotherapy (IPP) with a very low intensity, multilayer bandages (MLB), and compression sleeves.
Patients are not hospitalized.
In the first step of physical treatment, the patients are treated daily during 2 or 3 weeks with different therapies (MLD, IPP and MLB).
During the second step, bandages are no more used.
The compression garments are applied after this 2 or 3 weeks period.
The physical treatment consist now in: manual lynphatic drainage and intermittent sequential pressotherapy (with low intensity).
The frequency of the physical treatment is progressively decreased.