Twenty-five influential health and cancer organisations in Australia are supporting an initiative to promote exercise as an important component of cancer treatment.

The recommendation comes on the heel of a growing body of research that suggests that cancer patients who exercise regularly experience fewer and less severe cancer treatment side-effects, such as cancer-related fatigue, and mental distress.   In addition, research suggests that exercise can reduce the likelihood of cancer returning following successful treatment.

Despite the widely known benefits of exercise, many health care professionals recommend rest following chemotherapy.  The author of the study, Prof Prue Cormie, wants to challenge this conventional view by stating “If the effects of exercise could be encapsulated in a pill, it would be prescribed to every cancer patient worldwide and viewed as a major breakthrough in cancer treatment.”

Source

The Guardian – Cancer: ‘If exercise was a pill it would be prescribed to every patient’  (2018)