Exercise & Therapeutic Yoga for Cancer Survivors

Panel Finds Exercise May Lower Cancer Risk, Improve Outcomes - National Institutes of Health Director’s Blog
"Based on the evidence, the panel recommends that cancer survivors engage in moderate-intensity exercise, including aerobic and resistance training, at least two to three times a week. They should exercise for about 30 minutes per session. The recommendation is based on added confirmation that exercise is generally safe for cancer survivors. The data indicate exercise can lead to improvements in anxiety, depression, fatigue, overall quality of life, and in some cases survival."

Can Exercise Reduce the Risk of Cancer Recurrence? - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Beyond Cancer Podcast: Episode #4: Exercise and Cancer (audio file 29:33)

Yoga vs Yoga for Cancer

Many integrative and wellness centers are beginning to offer therapeutic or restorative yoga programs specifically designed for cancer patients & survivors, which offer a more gentle approach to yoga. Due to COVID-19, you’ll now find greater access to these programs online.

Yoga Video for Cancer Patients (video 34:10) - Mass General Hospital Lifestyle Medicine Clinic
Loren Winters, Oncology Nurse Practitioner & Registered Yoga Instructor Loren Winters guide you through this video with a series of gentle poses. No special gear needed.

Say Yes to Yoga - American Cancer Society

Jan. 26, 2014 - Yoga Can Lower Fatigue, Inflammation in Breast Cancer Survivors -
Ohio State University study, published in Journal of Clinical Oncology
"At the six-month point of the study – three months after the formal yoga practice had ended – results showed that on average, fatigue was 57 percent lower in women who had practiced yoga compared to the non-yoga group, and their inflammation was reduced by up to 20 percent."

March 3, 2014 - Yoga Regulates Stress Hormones and Improves Quality of Life for Women with Breast Cancer Undergoing Radiation Therapy
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

May 20, 2010 - URMC Study: Yoga Improves Sleep, Quality of Life for Cancer Survivors
University of Rochester Medical Center study, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2010 meeting

May 24, 2023 - Mind-body practice of qigong can improve cancer-related fatigue - Brown University
"Researchers at Brown University’s Carney Institute for Brain Science found that people with cancer-related fatigue who practiced qigong, a mind-body movement practice, showed clinically significant improvements in fatigue over the course of a 10-week study. And qigong was as effective at reducing fatigue as a more energy-intensive exercise and nutrition program, the researchers found."

The Benefits of Tai Chi and Qigong for Patients with Cancer - Conquer Magazine
"Did you know that there are ways of gently exercising that can be especially beneficial for patients with cancer and cancer survivors?"

Tai chi: Healing from the inside out - MD Anderson Cancer Center

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Qigong for Cancer Survivors: An Introduction (video 33 min.)
”Integrative medicine specialist Yang Yang describes the benefits of qigong for cancer survivors, and demonstrates exercises and meditation.”

Tai Chi Video Series - "In this [4] video series, Memorial Sloan Kettering’s mind-body therapist Robin Hardbattle guides you through the principles of tai chi and the exercises themselves. These videos are intended to help people who are new to the practice, as well as those who already have some experience."

• Warm-up exercises to loosen up your muscles and joints

• An explanation of the individual movements so you’ll know the best way to stand and move

• A full tai chi sequence, based on the Yang style short form by Cheng Man-ching

• Cool-down techniques to bring your heart rate back to its normal resting level
  

August 11, 2022 - Can Exercise Boost Chemotherapy’s Effectiveness, Improve Outlook for Colon Cancer Survivors? - Pennington Biomedical Research Center
'Two new federally funded studies will recruit more than 300 patients with colon cancer to determine whether aerobic exercise can make chemotherapy more tolerable and less toxic and prevent fat from invading muscle tissue, a predictor of cancer recurrence, heart disease, and death.
“More than half the patients with colon cancer treated with chemotherapy have to delay treatment or have a lower dose of treatment because the drugs have so many side effects. That’s known as chemotherapy toxicity,” said Justin C. Brown, PhD, Director, Cancer Metabolism Program at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. “We think aerobic exercise will allow patients to be treated with optimal doses of chemotherapy, reduce the incidence of chemotherapy toxicities, and enable more people to be cured.” Dr. Brown expects the study’s findings will change the clinical practice guidelines that recognize exercise as an essential supportive treatment for chemotherapy.

June 2, 2022 - Exercise amplifies immune attack on pancreatic cancer - NYU Grossman School of Medicine
"In collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the study authors then found that human patients enrolled in their Preoperative Rehabilitation During Neoadjuvant Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer clinical trial who exercised before surgery to remove their pancreatic tumors had more CD8 effector T cells that expressed a protein called granzyme B, which confers tumor cell–killing ability. Also in that trial, which opened in 2017, those patients who exercised and had more of these cell types had 50 percent higher overall survival over 5 years than patients with fewer of them."

Feb. 1, 2022 - Exercise may boost impact of pre-surgical chemo in patients with esophageal cancer - British Journal of Sports Medicine
According to a small trial study, British researchers found tumor shrinkage was greater in the group assigned to participate in a program that included exercise along with their pre-surgical chemo treatments versus the group that was assigned lifestyle advice along with their pre-surgical chemo treatment.

Nov. 11, 2021 - Cancer Survivors Make Strides in Community Exercise Programs- University of Texas Arlington
"In a new research article published in Cancer, researcher and Assistant Professor Yue Liao in the Department of Kinesiology found that cancer survivors improved their quality of life, physical activity level and physical functioning after completing a 12-week group-based exercise program."

August 18, 2021 - Physical activity associated with better cognition in breast cancer patients - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
"A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found a strong association between high levels of physical activity and the ability to maintain cognitive function among breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy. The research lays the groundwork for future clinical trials aimed at investigating whether moderate to vigorous exercise can ward off what is commonly referred to as “chemo brain,” a decline in cognitive function many breast cancer patients experience."

Dec. 2, 2020 - Combined exercise, mindfulness training may help reduce fatigue in cancer survivors - Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology
40 women participated in the 7-day trial and were asked to fill out questionnaires about their perceived fatigue levels. “They were then divided into three groups where they were asked to either exercise or undergo mindfulness training or a combination of both.” The participants all reported a moderate level of self-reported mental fatigue at the beginning of the study. Researchers found that “Over the course of the week, the groups that took part in a combination of exercise and mindfulness training reported a drop in fatigue levels from moderate to mild. The other groups did not show a comparable degree of improvement.”

May 15, 2020 - For Women with Breast Cancer, Regular Exercise May Improve Survival
"The guidelines recommend that adults engage in at least 2.5 to 5 hours of moderate-intensity physical activity or 1.25 to 2.5 hours of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week. Women with breast cancer who met the minimum physical activity guidelines both before diagnosis and at the 2-year follow-up (after treatment) had a 55% reduced chance of their cancer returning and a 68% reduced chance of death from any cause (not just breast cancer) compared with those who did not meet the guidelines at both times."

Dec. 26, 2019 - Exercise may reduce risk for cancer by as much as 25 percent - Journal of Clinical Oncology
Researchers analyzed nine studies involving more than 750,000 adult participants and compared physical activity with the incidence of 15 types of cancer. "... people who engaged in physical activity as recommended by the National Institutes of Health were able to reduce their risk for seven different types of cancer by as much as 25 percent. This included common -- and deadly -- forms of the disease like colon and breast cancers, as well as endometrial cancer, kidney cancer, myeloma, liver cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma."

Aug. 14, 2019 - Exercise associated with benefit to patients with advanced colorectal cancer - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
"Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who engaged in moderate exercise while undergoing chemotherapy tended to have delayed progression of their disease and fewer severe side effects from treatment, according to the results of a new study. Even low-intensity exercise, such as walking four or more hours a week, was associated with a nearly 20 percent reduction in cancer progression or death over the course of the six-year study, said researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, reporting in the Journal of Clinical Oncology."