Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Sep;40(5):559-63.
doi: 10.5999/aps.2013.40.5.559. Epub 2013 Sep 13.

The effect of breast hypertrophy on patient posture

Oren Lapid  1 , E Joline de Groof, Leonard Umc Corion, Mark Jc Smeulders, Chantal Mam van der Horst
Affiliations

The effect of breast hypertrophy on patient posture

Oren Lapid et al. Arch Plast Surg. 2013 Sep.

Abstract

Background: One of the reasons women with macromastia chose to undergo a breast reduction is to relieve their complaints of back, neck, and shoulder pain. We hypothesized that changes in posture after surgery may be the reason for the pain relief and that patient posture may correlate with symptomatic macromastia and may serve as an objective measure for complaints. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the effect of reduction mammaplasty on the posture of women with macromastia.

Methods: A prospective controlled study at a university medical center. Forty-two patients that underwent breast reduction were studied before surgery and an average of 4.3 years following surgery. Thirty-seven healthy women served as controls. Standardized lateral photos were taken. The inclination angle of the back was measured. Regression analysis was performed for the inclination angle.

Results: Preoperatively, the mean inclination angle was 1.61 degrees ventrally; this diminished postoperatively to 0.72 degrees ventrally. This change was not significant (P-value=0.104). In the control group that angle was 0.28 degrees dorsally. Univariate regression analysis revealed that the inclination was dependent on body mass index (BMI) and having symptomatic macromastia; on multiple regression it was only dependent on BMI.

Conclusions: The inclination angle of the back in breast reduction candidates is significantly different from that of controls; however, this difference is small and probably does not account for the symptoms associated with macromastia. Back inclination should not be used as a surrogate "objective" measure for symptomatic macromastia.

Keywords: Back pain; Gigantomastia; Kyphosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Experimental setup The inclination angle of the back α was calculated as the angle between the line T1-L5 and a vertical line.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Measured back inclination Schematic representation of the inclination angles in patients and controls. The dotted line represents a vertical line. The control patients had a dorsal inclination; the patients who underwent surgery had a ventral angulation that showed normalization following surgery. pre, preoperative; post, postoperative.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rogliani M, Gentile P, Labardi L, et al. Improvement of physical and psychological symptoms after breast reduction. J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg. 2009;62:1647–1649. - PubMed
    1. Blomqvist L, Eriksson A, Brandberg Y. Reduction mammaplasty provides long-term improvement in health status and quality of life. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2000;106:991–997. - PubMed
    1. Brown AP, Hill C, Khan K. Outcome of reduction mammaplasty: a patients' perspective. Br J Plast Surg. 2000;53:584–587. - PubMed
    1. Schnur PL, Schnur DP, Petty PM, et al. Reduction mammaplasty: an outcome study. Plast Reconstr Surg. 1997;100:875–883. - PubMed
    1. Collins ED, Kerrigan CL, Kim M, et al. The effectiveness of surgical and nonsurgical interventions in relieving the symptoms of macromastia. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2002;109:1556–1566. - PubMed