Fitness Before Cancer Not As Crucial As After, Study - Fatigue, Pain Affect All With Breast Cancer, Exercise After Diagnosis Helps

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Sports Medicine / Fitness;  Breast Cancer;  Pain / Anesthetics
Article Date: 06 Jul 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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Doctors will tell you that there are a lot of benefits to being physically fit. Not only can it help you avoid certain illnesses, if you do face a medical challenge, being in good shape can give you a better chance of getting through it. But that's not always the case. A surprising new study has found that, when it comes to coping with the side effects of breast cancer, fitness can help, but only after diagnosis.

When Sandi Reynolds was told she had breast cancer, she could hardly believe it. She's always been active and healthy, and in her family, cancer was never a concern.

"My grandma didn't have it. My mom didn't have it. My sister didn't have it, and I'm the youngest. It never ran in my dad's side either," says Reynolds.

She knew battling cancer would be tough, but Sandi, and thousands of women like her, might have assumed that because she was in good shape before she was diagnosed, it might help after she was treated. But a study in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship says that's not the case.

"Counter to what we expected, the amount and type of activity that they were doing before diagnosis didn't really matter all that much," says Catherine Alfano, PhD, at Ohio State University's Comprehensive Cancer Center.

In her study, Alfano found that no matter how fit a woman might be at the time of diagnosis, symptoms like pain, fatigue and depression can strike any woman at any time. But here's the good news. Following more than 500 breast cancer patients, Alfano found that those who worked out after they were diagnosed were healthier and happier day to day - and the benefits may not stop there.

"Physical activity is not only good for symptom management, it actually might result in lower risk of recurrence, lower risk of second cancers, and these are things that breast cancer survivors worry about every day," says Alfano.

It's something Sandi worries about. But she's taking steps to keep fit, hoping it will keep her symptoms and her cancer in check. Of the two million women who've been treated for breast cancer in the U.S., about 1 out of 4 may have lingering symptoms like pain and fatigue.** Some experience it years after treatment.** Experts say even modest exercise helped those with side effects, and the more women exercised, the more benefits they saw.

*How Many Women Get Breast Cancer?
American Cancer Society - retrieved June 2007
http://www.cancer.org

**Physical activity, long-term symptoms, and physical health-related quality of life among breast cancer survivors: A prospective analysis
Journal of Cancer Survivorship, June 2007

Ohio State University Medical Center