In dance therapy, it’s aloha, recovery
Reported November 02, 2008
SAN ANTONIO Three months after being diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer, Kathy King is hula dancing.
Dressed in pink, she’s also blowing translucent bubbles in the air and waving around a gauzy scarf to the sounds of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” It’s all part of a class in the Lebed Method, a fitness program designed to physically rehabilitate breast cancer patients.
Both the Lebed Method and the Pink Ribbon Program, a modified form of Pilates developed for postoperative breast-cancer patients, use gentle movement to improve the quality of life for women and men affected by the disease.
While neither program is intended to replace prescribed physical therapy, they can increase mobility and strength, reduce scarring, decrease depression and raise self-esteem.
Some medical studies indicate that regular exercise helps breast cancer patients recuperate and may help them live longer.
“The thing is to get the body up and moving,” says Diane Severino, a Los Angeles Pilates instructor and expert in movement therapy.
“It’s uplifting. And if you feel better and more positive about yourself, that helps your recovery.”
Sherry Lebed Davis and her brothers, Dr. Marc Lebed and Dr. Joel Lebed, developed the Lebed Method for their mother, a former professional ballroom dancer who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1979.
The Lebed Method, which incorporates ballet and jazz movements with upbeat music, was soon adopted at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia for other patients who underwent surgery for breast cancer. It is now taught in 12 countries.
Each movement has a therapeutic purpose for the students: blowing bubbles encourages deep breathing, raising their arms improves shoulder range of motion and waggling their fingers during the hula reduces swelling in their hands.
Plus it’s fun.
“It absolutely does not look therapeutic. It’s supposed to be an absolute hoot, fun and fabulous,” says Lebed Davis, who lives outside Seattle and is a breast-cancer survivor herself.
Students “feel alive and well again,” she says. “It’s a celebration of the body and what it still can do.”
The routines are appropriate for any fitness level. Lebed Davis says students should see results in six weeks.
The classes are popular because they’re informal and easy, says Barbara Owens, a nursing professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center here.
Owens is one of three certified instructors who teach the Lebed Method as part of the Cancer Therapy & Research Center’s wellness programs. The classes serve as a kind of support group for breast cancer patients who are taking steps to improve their health, Owens says.
“I have enjoyed the companionship,” says King, who is wearing a Lebed Method T-shirt that reads “Surviving is important, but thriving is elegant.”
King is undergoing chemotherapy and is scheduled for a radical mastectomy next year. She wanted to try the Lebed Method to avoid developing lymphedema, a swelling caused by blockage in the lymphatic system, caused by cancer cells, surgery or radiation treatment.
She also wants to keep active after she had to stop gardening because bacteria and mold in the soil can be dangerous for patients in chemotherapy.
“I love that it’s not a sense of competition. It is slow and easy movement,” King says.
That’s essential for cancer patients who may be intimidated by gyms, or feeling fatigued or in pain from treatment or surgery, Owens says.
Myra Abaowa wanted to try the Lebed Method to help offset the side effects of the chemotherapy she’s undergoing for Stage 4 widespread metastasized breast cancer.
Like the other women in the class, she smiles and laughs as she does chorus-line kicks and pretends to balance on a surfboard and reach for chocolates on a supermarket shelf.
“I loved it. I really loved the props,” she says after her first class. “It awakened me. I was feeling a little sluggish, and I could feel my body tingling throughout.” Owens ends the class with a snack of lemonade and pink yogurt.
“Do something nice for yourself,” she tells the women. “Remember you’re beautiful.”
The six-week program has three stages. After an assessment by a certified instructor, patients begin with gentle movement in the affected area, then incorporate full-body exercises and core stability movements.
Finally, they use props to strengthen their muscles, after which they can usually progress into a mainstream fitness program.
The controlled breathing in Pilates can prevent lymphedema by circulating lymphatic fluid, while the emphasis on balance helps patients with a prosthesis.
Upper body movements combat slumped shoulders and rounded backs caused by reconstructive surgery.
Pilates or any exercise regimen also improves self-image for patients embarrassed about their bodies after surgery.
Pilates “gave me an appreciation of my body that I think I had really grown to hate,” says Jerilyn Blanchard, 53, an instructor who underwent a total mastectomy a decade ago.
“What we do with Pilates is start to realign and bring the body back into its original position,” says Blanchard.