Los benefits of physical exercise for cancer patients they are more than proven, since it reduces the symptoms and reduces the side effects that the treatment may have. For this reason, the Ministry of Health, through the Murcian Health Service (SMS), has taken a step forward to create the first unit of therapeutic physical exercise for cancer patients of regional public health.
This first unit is located in the Santa Lucia Hospitalso it will be a reference for all possible beneficiaries of Health Area II, and it is scheduled to open its doors this Monday, April 3.
In the Region of Murcia there are recent experiences to adapt spaces such as gyms for cancer patients, projects that have been promoted by the Never Surrender Foundation and the University of Murcia (CHILDREN), where the first facility of its kind opened its doors last November. However, the one at Santa Lucía is the first unit of the SMS with which the public health system wants to expand the offer of spaces for these patients.
From Salud they explain that the start-up at the Santa Lucía General University Hospital of the first unit of therapeutic physical exercise for cancer patients has the objective that they can add the benefits of physical exercise during your recovery process.
«Scientific evidence has shown that the practice of physical exercise in these types of patients during their illness stimulates positive responses from the different systems and organs of the body and promotes adaptations and responses that are favorable in the immune system”, they point out.
The specialists consider that exercising safely, depending on the specific medical situation and physical condition of each patient, can help alleviate some of the most frequent symptoms derived from the disease and its radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments, such as pain, fatigue, tumor asthenia, accumulation of lymphatic fluid or loss of bone mass.
adapted exercises
The Physiotherapy supervisor of the Rehabilitation service of the Santa Lucía Hospital in Cartagena, Francis Rodriguez, points out that “the idea is to have a unit in which patients are programmed with the exercises that are best adapted to each case in order to better tolerate the treatments.” Treatments that can range from chemotherapy or radiotherapy to immunotherapies, hormonal treatments or the surgery itself.
Programs of aerobic, resistance or strength and flexibility exercises prior to surgery They have also shown that they can reduce postoperative complications and improve postoperative recovery by reducing the patient’s own hospital stay.
This new service is aimed at adult patients over 18 years of age with cancer diagnosis or treatment and it will be offered from Monday to Friday, in the afternoon, in the multipurpose room on the terrace floor of the Cartagena hospital, which has been adapted to the new features.
Thus, two new specialized physiotherapists who join the Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy service of the University Hospital Complex of Cartagena, will offer this care with the support of the Oncology and Nutrition infirmary and the Clinical Psychology service. “You have to keep in mind if patients need some type of supplement due to physical activity,” insists Rodríguez.
The gym has specific machines for cardiovascular exercise and aerobic training; Specifically, there are two treadmills for walking and running; an elliptical bike and two cycle ergometers. Also a rowing device that also acts on the muscular system and includes other material to work with functional exercises.
The Physiotherapy supervisor explains that patients who meet the criteria will be given a questionnaire to find out your situation and thus be able to design a table of exercises to measure.
At the end of last year another similar space was also inaugurated, this time in Caravaca de la Cruz, thanks to a collaboration between the Never Surrender Foundation, the Caravaqueño City Council, the Postres Reina business group and Green Sport Center.
Material donated by the Rotary Club of Cartagena
The new physical exercise unit for cancer patients at Santa Lucía has treadmills, a bicycle and other equipment, as well as material for functional exercises such as a weight bench, iron bars and weight plates, a polymetric box, dumbbells, elastic bands and fitness balls. Part of all this equipment has been donated by the Cartagena Rotary Club as a gesture, within the actions they develop, to help these patients. This club is part of the Spanish Rotarian Humanitarian Foundation.
Thousand new cases a year in Cartagena
Detection figures for new cancer cases in the Cartagena Health Area they remain around a thousand per year, which is the trend in recent years, according to figures provided by the Ministry of Health. The Day Hospital of the Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Cartagena has administered in the last year more than 10,000 cycles of intravenous or subcutaneous antineoplastic treatmentmore frequently for patients with breast, lung or digestive cancer, which represents an average of 700 monthly patients.
In addition, the Oncology service has attended more than 20,000 consultations in 2021, 1,100 corresponding to new patients, and the rest successive consultations of patients already known, who are receiving treatment, or undergoing their control check-ups. The AECC Cancer Observatory shows that in the Region of Murcia a total of 8,073 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2022, the most frequent being colorectal, with 1,140 diagnoses, followed by breast (997), prostate (993 ) and lung (843).
