There is enough clinically significant evidence to support prescribing physical activity like medicine for people diagnosed with cancer, says an international team of clinicians and researchers.
In a new initiative, Moving Through Cancer, the team aims to build a greater awareness of exercise’s role in cancer treatment and therapy by 2029. In three papers published on Wednesday, the group reported its findings and unveiled a new set of international exercise recommendations for clinician use.
Depending on an individual’s activity levels and abilities, they generally recommend 30 minutes of moderately intense aerobic exercise three times a week and 20 to 30 minutes of resistance exercise twice a week. They also detail how exercise prescriptions can be customized to individual patients’ needs.
“When researchers in the 1950s built an evidence base for exercise and heart disease, there was a shift in public knowledge about that connection. It’s now time for the same thing to happen with exercise and cancer,” said corresponding author Kathryn Schmitz, Ph.D., MPH, of Penn State College of Medicine.
A clinician-focused paper, “Exercise is medicine in oncology: Engaging clinicians to help patients move through cancer,” has been published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Physicians. In addition, the University of British Columbia has released a story summarizing the team’s international exercise guidelines for cancer survivors.
