Exercise may help improve fatigue caused by cancer and its treatments, new research says.
“A lot of time, the medical response to patients is that they should expect to be fatigued, that it is a normal side effect. If patients are told that fatigue is just a side effect and to accept it, what they are not getting is any advice or support to help them cope,” review lead author Fiona Camp, a lecturer at the University of the West of England in Bristol, said in a prepared statement.
Camp and her colleagues examined data on more than 2,000 cancer patients in 28 studies, which tested exercise programs that lasted from three weeks to eight months. The typical duration was 12 weeks. Walking and stationary bike riding were the most common types of exercise in the studies.
The researchers found that exercise is more effective at combating cancer-related fatigue than the usual care provided to patients.
“Exercise shouldn’t be used in isolation but should definitely be included as one of the components in the package of interventions used during and after treatment,” Camp said.
She said a clearer “exercise prescription” for cancer patients can be developed after experts learn more about what intensity, frequency, duration and kinds of exercise best suit cancer patients. Until then, available evidence shows that exercise therapists, physical therapists and exercise physiologists need to part of cancer patients’ treatment teams, she added.
The review was published in the April 2008 issue of The Cochrane Library.
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