Analgesic Effect of Resistance Training for Breast Cancer Survivors

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide with more than a million new cases diagnosed every year \[1\]. Fortunately, due to better treatment options, the population of long-term survivors is increasing. This poses new demands for knowledge on how to manage late effects to the treatment regimen. Persistent pain after treatment for breast cancer is a common and underestimated problem as well as it can be a source of considerable physical disability and psychological distress \[2\]. Hence, the development of novel interventions to improve pain management is of high clinical relevance. Resistance training (RT) is a promising clinical therapeutic tool to improve a variety of adverse effects to breast cancer treatment \[3\] and may provide several pain-relieving benefits \[4\]. However, the efficacy of this modality for managing persistent pain after breast cancer treatment is currently unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to investigate if individualized RT can modulate persistent pain after breast cancer treatment, thereby improving our understanding of how this modality may benefit patients and contribute to clinical guidelines for pain management in this clinical population.