Lymphedema & Oncology Physical Therapy in Birmingham, AL
Swelling, cording, fatigue and the stiffness nobody warned you about are treatable, and the earlier we see you the better it goes. Best of all is before the surgery — a baseline measurement takes twenty minutes and changes everything afterwards.
The Things Cancer Treatment Leaves Behind
Almost none of these are discussed before treatment, and almost all of them respond well to it afterwards.
Swelling in an Arm or Leg
Lymphedema affects roughly one in five people after breast cancer surgery and more after certain other treatments. It is manageable, often dramatically, and it is far easier to control early than late.
A Tight Cord Under the Arm
Axillary web syndrome — visible, rope-like cords running from the armpit down the arm. It is frightening, it is not cancer, and it usually releases in a handful of sessions of gentle manual work.
Exhaustion That Sleep Doesn't Fix
Cancer-related fatigue is the most common and most under-treated side effect there is. Exercise is the single best-evidenced treatment for it — which is the opposite of what most people are told.
Stiff, Tethered Scar Tissue
Surgical scar and radiation fibrosis restrict shoulder and chest movement, sometimes years later. Scar mobilisation and graded stretching recover a great deal of that range.
Numb or Burning Hands and Feet
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy affects balance and grip as well as sensation. Balance retraining and sensory work reduce the fall risk it carries.
Losing Strength Through Treatment
Deconditioning during chemotherapy or radiation is normal and reversible. Supervised, appropriately-dosed exercise during treatment improves tolerance of the treatment itself.
Gentler, and More Effective, Than People Expect
Complete Decongestive Therapy
The gold standard for lymphedema: manual lymphatic drainage, multi-layer compression bandaging, remedial exercise and skin care. An intensive phase of a few weeks, then a maintenance phase you run yourself at home.
Compression Garment Fitting
Measured and fitted here, not ordered from a catalogue. Fit is the difference between a garment that controls swelling and one that lives in a drawer — and since 2024 Medicare covers them.
Prospective Surveillance
Baseline limb measurements before surgery, repeated at intervals afterwards. It catches sub-clinical swelling months before you would notice it, when a sleeve for four weeks often resolves it entirely.
Cancer-Related Fatigue Programs
Graded, supervised aerobic and resistance exercise, starting wherever you actually are — for some people that is ten minutes of walking. It is the best-evidenced treatment for fatigue in oncology.
Scar & Radiation Fibrosis Care
Manual scar work, myofascial release and progressive stretching to recover shoulder, chest and neck range. Useful immediately after surgery and still useful years later.
Neuropathy & Balance Work
For chemotherapy-induced neuropathy: sensory retraining, balance challenge and strength work aimed squarely at reducing falls.
Fifteen Years of the Part That Comes After
Larkspur opened on Linden Avenue in 2011, because oncology rehabilitation was — and largely still is — the part of cancer care that nobody hands you a leaflet about.
Treatment finishes and you are discharged with a swollen arm, a shoulder that won't lift, a fatigue nothing touches, and the strong impression that you should be grateful and get on with it. Almost all of that is treatable, and a great deal of it is preventable if someone measures you before surgery rather than after the swelling arrives.
Our therapists hold the CLT-LANA certification, the recognised standard in lymphedema care. We work directly with the oncology and surgical teams across Birmingham, and we will see you at any point — before surgery, during chemotherapy, or ten years later when something has finally become annoying enough to mention.
- ✓CLT-LANA certified therapists
- ✓Baseline measurement before surgery
- ✓We work during active treatment, not only after
- ✓Direct contact with your oncology team
What We Wish Everyone Was Told Beforehand
Ask for a Baseline Before Surgery
Twenty minutes of measurement before a lymph node procedure gives us your normal. Afterwards, a small change is detectable months before it is visible, and caught that early it is often resolved with a compression sleeve for a few weeks.
Exercise Does Not Cause Lymphedema
The old advice to avoid lifting with an at-risk arm has been overturned by good trials. Progressive resistance training is safe and appears protective. Being told to protect the arm indefinitely leaves people weaker and no less swollen.
Fatigue Responds to Movement
It is counterintuitive and it is well established: graded exercise is more effective for cancer-related fatigue than rest. Resting more generally makes it worse. We start small and build slowly.
It Is Never Too Late to Ask
We regularly help people five, ten and fifteen years out — a shoulder that never came back, swelling they were told to live with. Later is harder, not hopeless, and nobody here will suggest you should have come sooner.
Fifteen Years of the Conversation Nobody Had
Nobody mentioned lymphedema to me before the mastectomy, and by the time my arm swelled I had no idea what was normal. Larkspur measured it, wrapped it, fitted the sleeve and taught me the drainage. It has been stable for three years.
The tight cord running from my armpit to my elbow terrified me — I was sure it was the cancer back. It was cording, they explained it in two minutes, and three sessions later it had released.
I was exhausted in a way sleep didn't touch and had been told to rest more. They very gently explained that exercise is the best-evidenced treatment for cancer fatigue, started me on ten minutes a day, and built from there.
Private Rooms, Ground Floor, No Waiting in a Corridor
A converted house on Linden Avenue with four private treatment rooms and a garden.
What's Covered, Including the Part That Changed
The rules on compression garments changed recently and a lot of people still don't know.
Garments Are Now Covered
The Lymphedema Treatment Act took effect in January 2024. Medicare now covers medically necessary compression garments — both the daytime and the night-time ones — and most commercial plans have followed. For years these cost people hundreds of dollars a year out of pocket.
Therapy Is Covered Too
Lymphedema therapy is covered under Medicare Part B and by all the major commercial carriers in Alabama. We verify your benefits and tell you your per-visit cost before your first appointment.
A Referral Helps Here
Alabama allows direct access, but for oncology rehabilitation we generally want your oncologist or surgeon in the loop from the start — so we'll ask, and we'll write to them either way.
We See You During Treatment
You do not have to wait until chemotherapy or radiation is finished. Working alongside active treatment improves how well you tolerate it, and we schedule around your infusion days.
Bring Someone
Whoever helps you at home is welcome in every session, and we'll teach them the bandaging and drainage directly. Doing it alone is unnecessarily hard.
Ground Floor, Parking at the Door
No stairs, no long corridors, and a private room for every appointment. Nobody is treated in a curtained bay here.
What People Ask Us
Will lymphedema ever go away?
For most people it is managed rather than cured — but managed well, it often stops being something you think about daily. Caught early, at the sub-clinical stage, a short period of compression sometimes resolves it entirely. Caught late it is harder, and still very treatable.
Should I avoid lifting with my affected arm?
No. That advice has been overturned by good trials. Slow, progressive resistance training is safe and appears to be protective. What matters is building up gradually rather than sudden unaccustomed loads — and that's true of everyone's arms.
Are compression garments covered now?
Yes. The Lymphedema Treatment Act took effect on 1 January 2024, and Medicare now covers medically necessary compression garments, day and night. Most commercial plans have followed. We fit them here and handle the documentation.
I'm still in chemotherapy. Is it too early?
It is exactly the right time. Exercise and rehabilitation during active treatment improve fatigue, strength and how well people tolerate the treatment itself. We schedule around infusion days and adjust to how you feel week to week.
What is the cord under my arm?
Almost certainly axillary web syndrome — bands of tightened tissue that develop after lymph node surgery. It looks and feels alarming and it is not a recurrence. It typically responds to gentle manual therapy and stretching within a few sessions.
My treatment finished years ago. Can you still help?
Yes, and please do come. Long-standing swelling, a shoulder that never fully returned, scar tightness, persistent fatigue — all of it is still treatable. We see people a decade and more out, regularly.
There Is No Wrong Time to Call
Before surgery is best. During treatment is good. Ten years later is still worth doing.
Linden Avenue, Birmingham
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