[Upper limbs exercises during radiotherapy for breast cancer and quality of life].

Purpose: To assess the influence of physiotherapy performed during radiotherapy (RT) on the quality of life (QL) of women under treatment for breast cancer.

Methods: This was a randomized clinical trial conducted on 55 women under RT treatment, 28 of whom were assigned to a group submitted to physiotherapy (PG) and 27 to the control group receiving no PG (CG). The physiotherapy technique used for PG was kinesiotherapy for the upper limbs using 19 exercises actively performed, with a series of ten rhythmic repetitions or stretching movements involving flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, internal and external shoulder rotation, separate or combined.