Cancer patients who’ve been told to rest and avoid exercise can and should find ways to be physically active both during and after treatment, according to new national guidelines.
The research of Dr. Kathryn Schmitz, which had research reversed decades of cautionary exercise advice given to breast cancer patients with with the painful arm-swelling condition lymphedema, led an expert panel to developed the new recommendations.
Cancer patients and survivors should strive to get the same 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise that is recommended for the general public … Though the evidence indicates that most types of physical activity — from swimming to yoga to strength training — are beneficial for cancer patients, clinicians should tailor exercise recommendations to individual patients.
“We now have a compelling body of high quality evidence that exercise during and after treatment is safe and beneficial for these patients, even those undergoing complex procedures such as stem cell transplants. If physicians want to avoid doing harm, they need to incorporate these guidelines into their clinical practice in a systematic way,” Dr Schmitz explains.
[Source]
Chapter: Cancer :: 30 July 2010
