Body posture of women after breast cancer treatment

Human body posture changes in the course of ontogenesis. The changes are brought about by both internal factors (illness) and external factors (injury). The negative consequences of a medical condition such as breast cancer, together with the treatment process, undoubtedly contribute to disturbance of body posture. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the type of body posture in women after treatment of breast cancer on the basis of anteroposterior spinal curves.

The study involved a group of 51 (Group 1) women following treatment of breast cancer and a group of 37 healthy women (Group 2). The average age of the women in Group 1 was 61 years, and the average age of the healthy women was 58 years. All participants underwent a photogrammetric examination of body posture. Postural types were defined on the basis of the value of a compensation index (μ) as kyphotic, balanced, and lordotic. The following subtypes were distinguished within these three categories, depending on the shape of the spinal curves: kyphotic subtype I, II, III; balanced subtype I, II, III; and lordotic subtype I, II, III.

The post-mastectomy group and the control group did not differ with regard to age (p=0.09), making it possible to continue the analysis of postural differences, which revealed significant differences at p=0.00008. In the group of women after treatment of breast cancer, 82.3% demonstrated a faulty body posture, compared to only 35.1% of the controls. There was no significant relationship between the quality of body posture and oncological treatment.

A significantly higher incidence of faulty body postures was observed among women after treatment of breast cancer.