She said the four months of weekly therapy plus exercises at home helped strengthen her arm so she could play tennis the way she had prior to surgery. The physical therapy also was a boost to her emotionally, as it helped her feel she was active in her own recovery. People who experience physical changes due to cancer and its treatment may be helped greatly by rehabilitation services. Many people are not familiar with how physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, enterostomal therapy, or sexual therapy can help them.
Physical therapy can strengthen a body part or function weakened by cancer treatment.
Occupational therapy helps you adjust your routines of getting dressed or moving around the house so that you can continue with your normal activities even when you have a physical disability. Speech therapy helps you learn how to communicate after a laryngectomy or when you have a mouth or facial tumor which interferes with speech. Enterostomal therapy is provided by nurses who specialize in helping people with ostomies and who give advice and guidance on how to adjust your daily routines to your surgery. Sexual therapists offer help with the problems that may arise in resuming sexual activity following cancer treatment. Managing intercourse after an ostomy, impotence, and loss of sexual interest are all problems that can be addressed by a professional knowledgeable about sexual functioning.