➤➤➤➤➤➤➤➤➤➤➤➤➤➤➤➤➤➤➤ cancer programmes Medical Wellness
MOVE MORE H
itting national headlines this August, the launch of Macmillan Cancer Support’s ‘Move More’ campaign
revolved around the publishing of a report that highlighted physical activity as a hidden ‘wonder drug’ for people who are living with cancer. Moving one step beyond accepted
scientifi c wisdom that has already shown how adopting a healthy lifestyle can reduce the risks of developing cancer, the new report suggests that not only can regular exercise – around 150 minutes a week – prove benefi cial for people during treatment, but that it can also help to reduce recurrence.
exercise is medicine Professor Robert Thomas – author of Lifestyle after Cancer and chair of Macmillan Cancer Support’s Physical Activity Expert Advisory Group – collaborated on the report, having conducted a comprehensive evidence review of world studies. He explains that thousands of controlled trials – registered on the Cochrane Reviews database – underline how exercise can improve wellbeing among cancer sufferers,
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As new evidence emerges underlining the benefits of exercise for cancer sufferers
and survivors, Neena Dhillon asks how fitness facilities can play their part
reducing associated problems such as fatigue, obesity, anxiety, constipation, osteoporosis and blood clots. Supported mainly by cohort studies,
evidence is also emerging that physical activity can have an anti-cancer effect, improving long-term outcomes and preventing relapse. Figures quoted in Macmillan’s report – part of its Improving Cancer Survivorship review – suggest that breast and prostate cancer patients can reduce their risk of dying by 30 to 40 per cent if they achieve recommended levels of activity, compared to those doing under an hour a week, while bowel cancer sufferers achieving six hours a week could reduce their risk of dying by up to 50 per cent. Meanwhile a US study involving 816 colon cancer patients, whose disease had
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been removed but showed indications of spreading to the local lymph nodes, noted that increased physical activity during and after additional chemotherapy was associated with a lower chance of the disease returning. In practical terms, this equated to a 35 per cent difference in relapse rate for individuals in the highest quintile of regular exercise compared with the lowest. “This improvement in survival is likely
to be a result of a combination of weight control, reduction in insulin-like growth factors and improved psychological outlook,” adds Thomas.
activity prescription Other professionals are in agreement with points made in the Macmillan report. Last year, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) stated that exercise is safe both during and after most types of treatment and that survivors should avoid inactivity – a recommendation now mirrored by the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES). Dr Eric Asher, medical director at
The Third Space Medicine – the medical offering at premium health club The
october 2011 © cybertrek 2011
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