INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to evaluate the association among physiotherapy exercises performed -- directed or free -- in case of post-operative complications in women who underwent radical mastectomy or quadrantectomy with axillary dissection. METHODS: Sixty women were randomized. The directed group performed physiotherapy following a regimen of 19 exercises. The free group performed the exercises following the biomechanical physiological movements of the shoulder without a previously defined sequence or number of repetitions, exercises were done to the rhythm of music. RESULTS: In the average, the directed group remained 12.17 +/- 2.96 days with the drain, while the free group remained 11.96 +/- 2.32 days, with no significant difference between groups. The amount of secretion drained during the permanence of the drain also revealed resemblance between groups, with an average of 1308.71 +/- 562.6ml in the directed group and of 1391.62 +/- 644.65ml in the group of free exercises. Incidences of seroma and dehiscence of the surgical wound did not seem to be influenced by the type of exercise at any of the times evaluated. In the directed group, 7.4% and 3.4% of the women presented with seroma on the 28th and 42nd days, respectively, while at the same moments of evaluation the free group presented respectively. 3.6% and 3.6%. Incidence of dehiscence of the surgical wound also was similar in the two groups, in the directed group it was of 20% on the 14th day, 31% on the 28th day and 10.3% on the 42nd day of postoperative. In the free group the incidence was of 23.3% on the 14th day, of 33.3% on the 28th day and of 22.2% on the 42nd day of postoperative. The statistical difference observed in the averages of the hand and arm circumferences does not translate into clinical differences. CONCLUSION: The complications were not influenced f by the physiotherapy exercises performed.

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