Weightlifting Study Among Year's Health Advances
DECEMBER 1, 2009Research led by Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Senior Scholar, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and a Member of the Abramson Cancer Center, was named among the year’s top health breakthroughs in Time magazine's annual "Year In Health" story. Schmitz's study, published in August in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that women with lymphedema â€" the painful arm-swelling condition that often follows breast cancer treatment -- who lifted weights were stronger and experienced less flareups of their condition than lymphedema patients who did not work out. The findings upend decades of advice given to sufferers, who were told to avoid lifting bags of groceries, children, or anything else in excess of 10 or 15 pounds. "Not only could training restore function," the story notes, "It could also save money: an eight-day course of therapy for lymphedema symptoms can cost $2,000."
