Exercise should be part of every cancer patient’s treatment, and if it’s not, it could actually be harmful, according to a team of Australia researchers, Global News reports.
The Clinical Oncology Society of Australia, endorsed by 25 other cancer organizations, launched a position statement about the role of exercise alongside surgery, chemotherapy or radiation in order to counteract the negative effects of cancer and its treatment.
It’s the first ever researcher-led push for exercise to be part of a cancer patient’s treatment.
Prue Cormie from the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia, lead author, said the position statement is based on “indisputable” evidence.
“Historically the advice to cancer patients was to rest and avoid activity,” Cormie wrote in the Conversation. “We now know this advice may be harmful to patients, and every person with cancer would benefit from exercise medicine.”
Clinical research shows exercise can lower the risk of a patient’s cancer coming back or dying from the disease, according to the statement.
The researchers recommend cancer patients be prescribed:
At least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise, like walking, jogging, swimming and cycling, each week. Two to three resistance exercises (lifting weights) each week. A majority of people with cancer do not meet these exercise recommendations, however, the researchers said patients do express a desire to become and stay sufficiently active.
Therefore, exercise should be prescribed under the direction of an exercise physiologist or physiotherapist, the study suggested.
