Getting Physical After Cancer

Scott J. Capozza, MS, PT
CT Challenge Survivorship Clinic
Yale New Haven Hospital

After finishing your cancer treatments, you may feel…

• Tired
• Sore or have post-surgical pain
• Increased sensitivity to an area that received radiation therapy
• Bloated from chemotherapy treatments
• Depressed, confused, and/or angry
• But do you feel like exercising?

Why exercise after I’ve already had cancer?

• Physical activity decreases your risk of recurrence and increases survival.
• Women who reported 4 hr/week of brisk walking had a 40% lower risk of recurrence and breast cancer death.
• Women who are overweight at breast cancer diagnosis are at a 2-fold greater risk for recurrence and death compared with lighter women.
  
• Women who gain weight (~5 lbs) are at 60% increased risk of death compared with women who do not gain weight.
  
• Obesity and weight gain lead to an increased production of certain hormones and growth factors that increases cell proliferation.

Research has shown that…

• Exercising several times a week helps decrease body fat, and hormones associated with cancer prognosis.
  
• By decreasing these factors, a woman post-breast cancer can decrease her risk of a recurrence by as much as 91%.
• Cancer and its treatments often produce significant morbidities that undermine quality of life.
• Exercise enhances quality of life both during and after cancer treatments.
  
  • Exercise decreases fatigue
  • Exercise decreases nausea
  • Exercise decreases depression and anxiety