Results From a Pilot Study of Handheld Vibration: Exercise Intervention Reduces Upper-Limb Dysfunction and Fatigue in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy: VibBRa Study.

We observed no adverse events and a training compliance of 98 %. IG's ROM improved significantly (abduction: 11°; 95% confidence interval [CI] 5 to 20; external rotation: 5°, 95% CI 0 to 10), as did the hand grip strength (1.6 kg, 95% CI -0.6 to 3.1), while CG's ROM did not change. CG's vibration sense worsened (-1.0 points, 95% CI -1.5 to -0.5), while IG's remained stable. Changes in general fatigue levels between IG (-2.0 points, 95% CI -3.0 to -1.0) and CG (0.5 points, 95% CI -1.0 to 4.5) revealed significant differences ( P = .008) Conclusions: Our intervention proved to be feasible and provides novel findings: it reduced fatigue levels and interestingly, handheld vibration exercises improved upper-limb function due to shoulder ROM, hand grip strength, and vibration sense.