Even if your arms don’t feel painful after a mastectomy or breast reconstruction surgery, it’s important to keep them below your shoulders for several weeks. This prevents delicate tissues, drains, and expanders from tearing or shifting while you heal.

How long after a mastectomy can you lift your arms? It depends. Too much movement may slow healing or lead to complications. Your surgeon will carefully consider your unique risk factors to recommend a timeline that’s right for you.

Why You Shouldn’t Lift Your Arms After a Mastectomy

Keeping your arms lower than shoulder height helps prevent complications after a mastectomy. Some common concerns include lymphedema (impaired function of the lymphatic system), drain or expander displacement, and torn blood vessels after reconstruction.

1. Increases Risk of Lymphedema

A total mastectomy removes all the breast tissue from one or both breasts, but sometimes lymph nodes under the arms are also removed. This is because when breast cancer spreads, it typically spreads to these lymph nodes first. They may be removed to prevent the cancer from spreading further.

Lymph nodes filter lymph, a body fluid, to remove waste and harmful substances. This lymph normally travels throughout the body through special vessels, but when lymph nodes are removed, this system of vessels can become blocked.

This blockage can cause lymph to build up in nearby tissues, which leads to swelling called lymphedema. Lifting or overusing your arms too soon after a mastectomy may increase the risk of lymphedema, especially if lymph nodes were removed.

2. May Displace Drains

Fluid tends to fill up the space where your breast tissue used to be. Your surgeon may place flexible drain tubes in your chest to help remove this extra fluid and lower the risk of infection or other problems.

Mastectomy drains are 14 to 18 inches long and stay in place until less than two tablespoons of fluid comes out over the course of two days. This can take up to three weeks.

Moving your arms too much can pull on the drains and may cause them to fall out.

3. May Jostle Expanders

Tissue expanders (sometimes called spacers) gently stretch your skin to make room for a breast implant after a mastectomy. As with drains, expanders may shift out of place during excessive arm movement.

4. Delays Blood Vessel Healing After Reconstruction Surgery

Several breast reconstruction techniques involve taking tissues from other parts of your body and shaping them into a new breast. To survive in this new location, the donor tissue needs a blood supply.

Surgeons carefully attach the tissue to blood vessels in the chest area. Lifting your arms too soon could damage these small healing blood vessels.

Guidelines for Moving and Lifting Arms After Mastectomy

Everyone heals from a mastectomy a little differently, and certain types of mastectomies require special aftercare. In general, expect up to six weeks of activity restrictions after a mastectomy. Here’s what you can expect:

• Gently raising arms to shoulder height — About three to seven days after surgery
• Lifting arms above the shoulders — three to six weeks after surgery
• Lifting anything heavier than 5 pounds — four to six weeks after surgery

Your surgeon will give you specific guidelines about when you can lift your arms or do gentle stretching based on your circumstances. For example, someone who has had a mastectomy without breast reconstruction or lymph node removal may be allowed to lift their arms sooner than someone who has had immediate reconstruction or lymph node removal.

Get permission from your surgeon before increasing your activity, as you might need more time to heal.

Lean on Your Care Team

Your care team may ask you to perform gentle arm exercises (without lifting your arms too high) to avoid muscle stiffness, tightness, and limited range of motion. Movement can also help prevent rigid, painful scar tissue in the arm, known as cording.

Being unable to lift your arms can make everyday tasks difficult. MyBCTeam members often ask for advice on how to put on a shirt, for example. “Anything button-up, loose-fitting, and soft” is a popular recommendation.

A physical therapist or occupational therapist can provide other ideas for managing daily activities while protecting your arms and chest.

Tell your doctor right away if you develop any of the following symptoms, as you may need additional care:

• Fever
• Chills
• Red, swollen, warm, or painful breast
• Red, swollen, warm, or painful leg
• Shortness of breath
• Chest or upper back pain
• Coughing up blood
• Discharge or blood from the surgical site
• Shooting pain
• Numbness or tingling
• Cording

Join the Conversation

On MyBCTeam, people share their experiences with breast cancer, get advice, and find support from others who understand.

When were you allowed to lift your arms after mastectomy or breast reconstruction? Let others know in the comments below.