Oncologists Should Recommend Exercise to Patients

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) believes that oncologists should talk to their patients about exercise. At the AACR Annual Meeting, Dr. Melinda Irwin, associate professor of epidemiology and public health at Yale School of Medicine, said evidence shows that exercise can improve both the prognosis and quality of life for cancer patients. The strongest evidence comes from studies of exercise and breast cancer which show reduction of risk of recurrence and death from all causes. There is also some evidence of similar benefits for several other cancers, including colon and prostate. Dr. Irwin said that she would "strongly hypothesize that the benefits from exercise - particularly for improving quality of life - would extend to all cancers", according to Medscape Oncology.

Since many patients are interested to learn what they can be doing to help themselves as they go through treatment, oncologists are well-placed to recommend exercise to their patients. Patients whose doctors talk to them about exercise are much more likely to take part in exercise. Unfortunately, at least half of patients studied said their oncologists had not mentioned exercise.

Of course, doctors are busy and have a lot of details to cover, but at Life-Cise we hope that, because of the strong accumulating evidence of the benefits of exercise, doctors may begin to discuss it with their patients. We believe it is wholly appropriate for doctors to be talking about exercise with their patients: for some cancers, studies have shown improvements of 40-50% in recurrence and death for people who exercise regularly - that's as much improvement as many standard medical treatments. Doctors do not have time or need to discuss details of an exercise regimen - there are fitness professionals who are trained to do that. But they can recommend that patients make an effort to remain or get active, and seek guidance from a qualified professional.

At Life-Cise, strong emphasis is put on appropriate exercise during cancer treatment. This came out of my own experience during my treatments for breast cancer. Exercise can greatly improve quality of life during chemotherapy, but increasing evidence shows that exercise may also improve outcomes for some cancers. I am hoping this recommendation from the AACR may spur more oncologists to begin a discussion.

Julie