Can Cancer Patients Exercise During Treatment? Expert Advice on Fitness and Chemotherapy

With the image of “anti-cancer fighter”, the fitness Internet celebrity bread bag blew up on June 1 that all the cancer patients in the past three years were all lies, and several related discussion articles appeared on the Dcard forum. Many netizens expressed their concern for the cancer patients. It is doubtful that retraining can be done during cancer and chemotherapy. Lin Xingqing, deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Sports Medicine Association, said that unless the condition worsens or severe acute infection, bleeding and other unstable patients should not exercise immediately after cancer surgery. They are undergoing chemotherapy or receiving any cancer treatment. Therapy “can be exercised”.

Whether it is an ordinary person or a cancer patient, it is medically recommended that more exercise is beneficial and harmless. It can improve the quality of life, promote sleep quality, and reduce fatigue. For cancer patients, it can also moderately relieve the discomfort caused by side effects during treatment. To adjust the mood. Especially training under the guidance of professionals can also bring better results.

Can I exercise while undergoing cancer treatment?everyone’s situation is different

However, cancer patients who are undergoing treatment, can they exercise? Lin Xingqing pointed out that due to the variety of cancer types, the symptoms caused by each cancer are also different, and the individual differences of patients are also large, so there is no common exercise prescription. , Former exercise habits to create an independent exercise menu.

If they are undergoing chemotherapy, can patients with artificial blood vessels buried in their bodies not be able to lift heavy objects? Can’t retrain? Lin Xingqing said that in the process of cancer treatment, the attending physician will pay great attention to the patient’s condition and reduce all possible risks. There is no absolute or impossible. “For example, a person undergoing chemotherapy, if he was originally a bodybuilder or a person with regular weight training, his condition is absolutely different from that of an elder with sarcopenia, and his exercise goals and taboos will also be different.”

Lin Xingqing emphasized that before training, it is necessary to grasp the medical history and seek the permission of the attending physician to find out whether there are any contraindications. The exercise instructor must know what kind of cancer the patient is, whether he is currently receiving any treatment, and whether the current tumor still exists. , and whether there are related side effects and complications ─ ─ neuropathy, lymphedema, stoma, bone metastasis, etc. Carefully monitor for new symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, chest pain and exercise should be suspended.

Start gradually with low-intensity exercise. Those with weak immunity should avoid going to crowded places.

There are also many patients who think that they are receiving treatment and their physical strength is not good. Is it better to wait until the treatment is over before training? Unless patients with severe anemia, disease progression or severe infection should not exercise immediately after cancer surgery, undergoing chemotherapy or receiving any cancer treatment is not an absolute contraindication to exercise. Lin Xingqing reminded that if you feel tired during the treatment period, you can replace long-term heavy exercise with multiple short-term exercises every day, pay attention to the slow and gradual exercise without causing symptoms to worsen, and adjust the exercise intensity according to the symptoms.

Aerobic exercise can improve fatigue during treatment, so it is too conservative and ignores the benefits of exercise itself. If there is insufficient immunity during chemotherapy, you should avoid exercise spaces that are prone to infection, such as exercising or swimming in public medical venues with poor ventilation or disinfection.

Weight training pay attention to safety intensity mode can be adjusted

In terms of other training considerations, if you have neuropathy, you must pay attention to the safety of weight training and be careful of falls. If the risk is high, stationary bicycles are safer than free weight training; if you have a high risk of fracture, you need to adjust the impact of resistance training. The training of breast cancer patients must adjust the training intensity so as not to cause further edema, and it is recommended that patients with lymphedema should train under pressure cuffs. If there is an enterostomy, experts recommend that you need to be careful about the increase in intra-abdominal pressure caused by exercise.