Even moderate exercise helps breast cancer recovery

Feb 8 2009

Australian researchers have found that exercise can offer benefits to women recovering from breast cancer treatment.

The researchers from Queensland University of Technology (QT) say the pain and fatigue experienced after treatment for breast cancer can be improved by even moderate exercise.

In a study involving almost 300 breast cancer survivors it was found that physical activity improved the quality of life and helped the women to deal with the disease and aided their recovery after treatment.

The researchers led by Sheree Harrison from QUT's School of Public health, interviewed the women over a period of a year and recorded how much physical activity they engaged in, as well as how they felt about their quality of life.

They found that women under 50 who were recovering from breast cancer and were consistently physically active were more likely to report better emotional well-being and have a higher overall quality of life than those who were less active or sedentary.

Ms Harrison says young women are more likely to have difficulties adjusting to the disease after being diagnosed, and being physically active helped them cope and also reduced the physical side affects such as pain and fatigue.

Ms Harrison says it was of interest that whether the physical activity was vigorous or moderate did not make a difference as exercise quite simply helped women in general to cope with their recovery and improved their emotional well-being.

However the same pattern with women aged over 50 years was not found as their quality of life was consistently high regardless of their level of exercise.

In this age group Ms Harrison suggests that exercise greatly benefits any pre-existing conditions such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol - the study revealed that while exercise helped many women to recover, over half were either sedentary or not getting enough exercise.

Ms Harrison says those women who were not exercising may have not realised the potential benefits of exercise or had possibly led an inactive lifestyle prior to the diagnosis and she also suggests a misconception may prevail that people who have had such an illness need to rest and not exercise.

Many breast cancer surgeons recommend exercise to their patients and Ms Harrison says activity is important and women need to know this.

The study is part of a larger research project which looks at different ways of assisting women during their recovery to become more active, due to be completed later this year.