Training Cancer Patients
Intensity is not as important as simply moving.
Consistent exercise is beneficial for patients undergoing cancer treatment, but what intensity is best? New findings suggest that training cancer patients with both high-intensity and low- to moderate-intensity exercise is beneficial, so the decision can be left to individual preference.
Swedish researchers from Uppsala University studied 577 male and female patients ages 30–84 who had breast, prostate or colorectal cancer. Investigators randomly assigned subjects to either a twice-weekly high-intensity interval training group or 150 minutes per week of low- to moderate-intensity walking or biking. At the end of 6 months, the researchers assessed and compared participants’ data on mental and physical health measures.
What did the study find? Intensity level didn’t seem to matter much. “The groups’ results didn’t differ in a clinically relevant way—that is, there was no difference likely to make a difference in the patients’ everyday life,” said joint lead study author Ingrid Demmelmaier, PhD, associate professor of physiotherapy at Uppsala University.
The research appeared in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports (2021; doi:10.1111/sms.13930).
See also: Exercise as Medicine in Cancer Care
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
