Treating breast cancer related pain

An article appeared in the New York Times this week entitled 'When pain persists after breast cancer surgery' It mentioned that upto 50% of women post mastectomy might be affected with ongoing pain for a long time after their surgery and for many this pain might never go away. Further down the article it mentions that a study had been done looking at giving women a pain killing injection to combat this pain and that in the majority of women this was looking like it worked.....although the long term effects are unknown at the moment. The doctor who has pioneered this work was quoted as saying “Even if you had to do the injection every six months, that’s so much better than having that pain.” And here's where I have the problem with the article. Yes, anything has to be better than living in constant pain, but there are alternatives to injections (and those injections look horrendous, if you're a bit sqeamish don't watch the video). It is amazing what a bit of hands on therapy can do!! This 'hands on stuff' is what I do day in day out, and I have to say that the vast majority of clients respond well to it, After breast cancer surgery there are many reasons for ongoing persistent pain, many of them directly related to the surgery - scarring, myofascial tightness and nerve damage. However, there are lots of other factors which impact on the woman's experience of pain and among these we have to look outside the area of the breast and chest wall. We need to be looking at the whole integrated mind - body system and consider carefully the emotional and physical impact that the breast cancer treatment rollercoaster has had on the woman. In my experience, breast cancer treatment related pain seldom occurs in isolation, it is often associated with other symptoms such as movement restriction, swelling, altered/ineffective movement patterns, cancer related fatigue, Axillary Web Syndrome (cording), lymphoedema. Add into that mix sleep disturbance, low mood, body image issues, and a whole load of other psychosocial problems.......would a six monthly injection help all of these??? The evidence for the effectiveness of the injections is looking good, but I would just hope that women who might be considering this line of treatment would see a physio who is skilled and knowledgeable in breast cancer recovery BEFORE they get the needle!! We've a lot to offer, we can fully analyse movements and tissues and have the skills to do something about the problems we detect and physio works! Physio V needle.....I know what I'd go for!