Exercising with cancer has significant health benefits

The Clinical Oncology Society of Australia has updated its guidelines with a new position statement on the role of exercise alongside surgery, chemotherapy and radiation in cancer care.

The evidence based guidelines recommend ‘People with cancer be as physically active as their current ability and conditions allowed.  For significant health benefits they should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise weekly and two to three resistance exercise sessions.’ 

One of the lead authors Professor Prue Cormie said “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, if we had a pill called exercise it would be demanded by cancer patients, prescribed by every cancer specialist and subsidised by government.”