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The effects of exercise in illness - like cancer

Writer's picture: InsideOut InsideOut

As most of you know, I am a Physiotherapist. That can be a broad topic, but this is the area I work with the most, helping people recover from an illness or trauma, sometimes not recovery but management. I am deeply passionate about quality of life, its a core value in my practice. Perhaps its a stage of life we are in, but illness, and specifically cancer, has started to creep into our lives more personally.


I am often faced with clients who have stopped exercising in fear of "making things worse" when they face uncertainty, pain or illness. It is natural to feel fear in the face of the unknown. Slowly, however, the evidence is becoming clearer that exercise is almost always necessary and critically important in a health crisis.


I recently read an article discussing how exercise influences your prognosis in cancer and although much of it is an expected outcome (common sense, anecdotal evidence), it still great to see that it is verified (in the British Journal of Sports Medicine no less). This study, proudly, was South African. It was a review of almost 30000 people on Discovery Medical aid that where diagnosed with a stage 1 cancer. Using data collected from Vitality and devices, they could assess the impact that physical exercise levels, before diagnosis, played in the prognosis and outcomes. You can read the details in the link below, but in conclusion:


"Individuals engaging in any level of recorded physical activity showed a reduced risk of cancer progression or mortality than those not physically active. There was a further reduction among individuals with moderate to high levels of physical activity compared with those with lower levels."


So what does that mean for you?


Firstly, if you already doing regular exercise, with Jason or on you own, you are on the right track. Not only will your health status be better, but your prognostic outcome in almost every type of illness, will be significantly better than if you where not exercising. If you are not exercising regular, now is a good time to start - even with a regular brisk walk.


What happens if you fall ill?


Illness will reach us all at one point or another. When I work, I encourage my clients to almost always try NOT stop there exercises routine, but rather modify the activities so as NOT to aggravate symptoms, or modify for comfort or safety. Obvious you cannot do things that are contra-indicated for your condition, but there is always something you can do! I try remind my clients not to focus on what they can't do, but rather what they can.


My experience also show other very important lessons:

  1. Try do what you enjoy, exercise is best when its fun! It is more sustainable if you like doing it

  2. Be practical and best functional. In a world full of new gismo's and quick "fixes", nothing beats practical functional exercise. It keeps it real and the benefits meaningful and more impactful.

  3. Start small and build, DON'T go in with a bang. That's how will get hurt or disillusioned. This is often very tough for my clients who want to go in hard and make big changes, but it seldom sustainable and without a price.

  4. Listen to medical advice and ask questions! Don't assume what you can and cannot do, this can lead to trouble.

  5. On bad days (and you will have these), just keep going, even if you modify the activity, don't stop the routine.


In the words of Dory " just keep swimming" :)





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Tel: +27 84 984 9817

Email: jasonbarnard48@gmail.com

Location​​​​​​: Southern Suburbs Cape Town South Africa

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