Rehab Take-home messages: Latissimus Dorsi Reconstruction and Functional Implications of the Shoulder

I turned to the literature and found prominent articles discussing breast reconstruction and giving minimal consequence to shoulder function after resection of the latissimus dorsi muscle. As a physical therapist, this left me in a quandary, “Really? Harvesting a portion of the broadest muscle of the back then threading it through the axilla to recreate the breast mound won’t have an impact on shoulder function or back pain? Impressive!” But, this did not correlate with my clinical findings.

Susannah HaarmannOctober 18, 2016latissimus dorsi, reconstruction, LDF, flap repair, breast reconstruction, shoulder biomechanics, breast cancer, breast cancer rehabiliationComment