October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with around 56,000 people diagnosed each year, including 370 diagnoses in men.
Recently, Another Round member Jason took on a mighty #1000forBreastCancer challenge, aiming to complete 1,000 hand-release push-ups in an hour to raise money for Breast Cancer Now, motivated and inspired by his sister’s journey with breast cancer.
Jason smashed through his target, racking up 1,032 push-ups in just 60 minutes and (so far) has raised over half of his £1,000 target. You can donate here if you’d like to support him. Thanks to fundraising efforts like Jason’s, breast cancer survival has doubled in the past 40 years.
At Another Round, our mission is to help as many people as possible get fitter and healthier for life. Understanding our bodies and what’s unusual for us gives us the greatest chance at living a long and healthy life.
In this article, we’re sharing some of the best available information on breast cancer symptoms for both men and women, so we can all spot the early signs.
Let’s get into it 🎗
According to Breast Cancer Now, the below symptoms are the key ones to look out for:
On its own, pain in your breasts is not usually a sign of breast cancer. But look out for pain in your breast or armpit that’s there all, or almost all, the time.
Although rare, men can get breast cancer. The most common symptom of breast cancer in men is a lump in the chest area.
Breasts are naturally lumpy, so it can be difficult to discern what should and shouldn’t be checked. However, it’s always worth having a doctor check any lumps as they will carry out the tests required to see if the lump is cancerous. The earlier a cancer is picked up, the easier it is to treat it, and the more likely the treatment is to be successful.
Breast pain
Breast pain is very common, and it’s not normally cancer-related. It can also fluctuate throughout the hormonal cycle in women. Sometimes it can feel like we have breast pain, but it’s actually chest wall pain which can be a pulled muscle or delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
Regardless, see your doctor if you have breast pain – whether it’s persistent, intermittent, or feels random. They may ask you to lean forward in the examination to determine whether it’s breast pain or chest wall pain. There’s more information on breast pain here.
Inflammatory breast cancer symptoms
A rare type of breast cancer called inflammatory breast cancer can have different symptoms. What can this look like? Your whole breast might look red and inflamed and feel sore. Your breast might feel hard, and your skin might look like orange peel.
Paget’s disease of the breast
This is rare, but it’s a skin condition that’s sometimes a sign of an underlying breast cancer. The symptoms are a red, scaly rash on your nipple and surrounding area. This can be itchy and looks a bit like eczema, which it can easily be mistaken for at first.
For any of the above symptoms, always see your doctor and get checked out.
There’s evidence to suggest that being physically active can reduce the risk of breast cancer by up to 20%. Whilst it’s not a magic pill, exercise does help maintain a healthy weight, can reduce hormone levels and increases overall immunity.
We’ve added some resources below to help with specific questions on breast cancer and where to go for help. For support with suitable training, you can send me an email or speak to your coach.
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