When a woman has axillary node surgery — sentinel node biopsy or axillary node dissection — she may tend to "favor" her arm and not use it for a while.

Avoiding the discomfort and pain is of course a natural response, but you should know there's also a risk in sparing your arm.

At our Breast Center, we have patients begin doing range-of-motion exercises the day after surgery. Within five days after surgery, we like even those who had an axillary node dissection to be extending their affected arm up over their head and moving it around.

Though lifting objects right after surgery isn't wise, extending your range of motion is. Why? Because if you don't, you run the risk of developing either a frozen shoulder or a condition called "cording," in which tight, inelastic bands of scar tissue form in the armpit. Cording makes moving the arm very painful and sometimes impossible.

If cording does develop, you must work aggressively with a physical therapist to break up those bands — and, yes, that will be painful. But it's necessary if you want full use of your arm back.

Be proactive and exercise early on — even before surgery. Ask the nurse in the breast center to instruct you on what exercises you will need to do and then start practicing them in advance. By the time you're home after surgery, these motions will be old hat and feel comfortable rather than awkward.

One favorite exercise of mine is slow dancing. You simply put your arms up around your partner's neck so the weight of your arms rests on the other person.

You are actively raising your arm, preventing that scar tissue from forming, and you're having some much-needed fun! So turn on some music and start "exercising" as soon as you get home.