Physical activity and cancer

Prehab2.jpgKeeping active before, during and after cancer treatment is both safe and important. Physical activity can help mitigate the impact of cancer and its treatments by reducing side effects such as low mood, pain, fatigue and poor sleep as well as helping to be a healthy weight.

It’s important cancer patients speak with a healthcare professional for advice on how to get started.

What is physical activity?

Physical activity is any movement that uses energy.  It’s often things we do all the time without even realising they count as forms of physical activity, such as: Rachel Brown speech bubble two.png

  • Walking
  • Climbing the stairs
  • Mowing the lawn
  • Cleaning the house

What is exercise?

Exercise is a planned, structured, and repetitive activity to improve or maintain physical fitness. It’s a type of physical activity, but not every physical activity is exercise. There are different types of exercise, for example, running, cycling, press ups, sit to stand, squats, pilates or yoga.

Adding even small amounts of extra physical activity into daily routines can have huge benefits on health and wellbeing.

This image is the Surrey Heartlands logo and shows a tree with the words Surrey Heartlands Health and Care PartnershipImportance of exercise during the different phases of cancer

Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership has produced a range of videos for healthcare professionals to show the importance of exercise for cancer patients and the positive impact during the different phases of cancer. The videos provide information to empower healthcare professionals to have conversations about exercise with patients.

Each video is two minutes long, or less. Find them below:

Research over the past 10-15 years indicates that there are significant benefits of exercise and increased physical activity on treatment outcomes. It is important that healthcare professionals are aware of this and can tell their patients. This video gives an introduction to the benefits of exercise.
Exercise is important at every stage of cancer diagnosis and treatment. It can start even before treatment begins and can help to minimise the side effects of treatment and has huge psychological benefits. This video gives further details on when to start exercise and what type of exercise to do.
The best exercise is what gives people enjoyment and as a healthcare professional you will encourage patients to keep active. Doing some exercise is better than none, but it is important that during treatment people are realistic in their expectations. This video talks through this in more detail.
Chemotherapy treatment can be difficult but even a little exercise can energise and make an individual feel they are taking control of their health. Specialist help and guidance is recommended following treatment. Find out more in this video.
Encourage people to exercise. Exercise is safe following a cancer diagnosis and can aid good recovery as well as cancer reoccurrence. It can have an amazing impact on the health wellbeing and outcomes for patients. This video summarises the benefits.
"I knew when I got my diagnosis I wanted to be as fit as possible going into treatment," says Carole, a bowel cancer patient. Her story illustrates first-hand the importance professional advice and guidance plays in supporting someone following surgery and treatment.
It is important that healthcare professionals can refer and signpost patients to guidance and support for exercise during prehabilitation and rehabilitation.
There are lots of resources available to help our patients. This video explains more.
Back to Prehabilitation and Rehabilitation
Healthcare professional top tips

Colleagues at South East London Cancer Alliance have produced tumour specific resources for professionals to use when giving advice and information to patients around physical activity. 

Find the resources by clicking on the link below:

Physical activity resources for healthcare professionals

Macmillan physical activity resources

Macmillan Cancer Support has information for patients on physical activity and cancer, both online and in a booklet which can be downloaded.

Find the resource here: 

Physical activity and cancer | Macmillan Cancer Support

Physical activity and cancer | Booklet | Macmillan Cancer Support

Promoting physical activity to patients 

NHS England has added new webpages for healthcare professionals to empower them with the skills and confidence to discuss and promote physical activity with patients.

The information contains evidence for the positive impact of regular small amounts of exercise in the prevention and treatment of common conditions, plus links to tools and resources to support staff to advocate for increasing physical activity. Find the new information here: Harnessing the benefits of physical activity