Can exercise help brain cancer patients feel stronger during tough treatment?
A feasibility, safety, and efficacy evaluation of supervised aerobic and resistance exercise for patients with glioblastoma undertaking adjuvant chemoradiotherapy
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Exercise improved strength but didn’t reduce fatigue—yet still helped well-being
Most assume exercise helps by reducing tiredness, but here fatigue didn’t improve. Instead, it didn’t get worse, which may be just as important.
Practical Takeaways
Brain cancer patients undergoing treatment should consider a supervised exercise program if cleared by their oncologist.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Exercise improved strength but didn’t reduce fatigue—yet still helped well-being
Most assume exercise helps by reducing tiredness, but here fatigue didn’t improve. Instead, it didn’t get worse, which may be just as important.
Practical Takeaways
Brain cancer patients undergoing treatment should consider a supervised exercise program if cleared by their oncologist.
Publication
Journal
Neuro-Oncology Practice
Year
2023
Authors
A. Nowak, Robert U. Newton, Travis Cruickshank, P. Cormie, G. Halkett, D. Tsoi, D. Galvão
Related Content
Claims (6)
Having someone guide and check in on your exercise and eating habits helps you stick with it, try harder, and track your food more accurately.
For people with a type of brain cancer getting tough treatment, doing guided exercise that mixes different types—like strength and cardio—might help them feel better, stay stronger, sleep better, and keep their quality of life from getting worse.
About half of brain cancer patients going through chemo and radiation can stick with a supervised exercise program — the other half either say no or drop out early, so it's not easy to roll out for everyone.
If people with a type of brain cancer called glioblastoma do supervised exercise while getting chemo and radiation, their leg strength and ability to move around likely get better in just six weeks.
Doing guided exercise while getting chemo and radiation for brain cancer seems safe—none of the 25 patients in the program had serious problems like seizures from the workouts.