Exercising
This study looked at whether low-level exercise, performed while sitting, might help ease the fatigue experienced by many women who were being treated with chemotherapy for advanced-stage cancer.
This study was intriguing because fatigue can be a long-lasting consequence of cancer and its treatment, sometimes persisting for years after treatments have been ended. Other studies have demonstrated that exercise can be beneficial for patients with fatigue, but it seems likely that those who already feel fatigued from cancer or its treatments might have difficulty embarking on exercise programs without having the burden of being sick with cancer.
The authors made an interesting connection between low-level exercises used with elderly patients who cannot participate in more vigorous programs, realizing that any level of movement seems to benefit people. They were also insightful and compassionate in their understanding that the patients they worked with might not be up to the types of exercise recommended for women with early-stage cancer, such as walking.
Their method was simple: using thirty-two women being treated for advanced-stage cancer, 16 were given a sitting exercise routine to do while 16 were not. The exercises were assigned to be done for thirty minutes, three times a week. This is a very moderate exercise program given that the participants performed them sitting down. The results were analyzed using Chi-square...
They took various factors into account, including get, weight, and how well their cancer was responding to treatment. Statistically these differences were not significant, suggesting that the researchers were looking primarily at the effects of the exercise program.
The results demonstrate, among other things, how difficult it can be to live with extended treatment for cancer. Over the sixty day period, both groups of women experienced a decline in their quality of life, although for the group in the exercise program, their evaluation of that decline was less than for those who did not do the exercises. Thus, while exercise improved perceptions of quality of life, it was no magic bullet. The decline in perception regarding quality of life was significant for both groups. Although the authors don't mention it, the six who had to drop out (they started with 38 participants) did so because their overall well-being declined so much that they could not complete the program.
This was a pilot study in that it took a new concept -- the possible benefits of exercise for women with advanced-stage breast cancer -- and tested their hypothesis that seated exercises would lessen their fatigue and improve their quality of life on a relatively small group of 32 women.
The authors recommend caution in interpreting the results because more women…
