More than one lung cancer patient has asked me this question, should I rest more or exercise more? There are also some patients with lung cancer recurrence and metastasis, whose family members will complain, blame her (him) for not being idle, tell him to bask in the sun at home, and as a result, he is busy at home all day, you see, this has spread, and people have to spend more money. They blame the relapse on doing more and exercising more.
Do cancer patients really want to exercise?
Of course it is needed. In the 2021 edition of the CSCO Nutrition Therapy Guidelines, cancer patients are believed to be prone to physical decline and need proper exercise. Exercise helps maintain a patient's weight and muscle mass. Exercise helps improve a patient's muscle strength, fitness, reduce depression and cancer fatigue, improve quality of life, and prolong survival. Nutritional therapy combined with exercise is considered the optimal way to maintain muscle function. Lack of exercise, aging and systemic inflammatory responses can all induce "protein anabolic disorders" and accelerate the development of sarcopenia.
Movement mode
Aerobic exercise is the main form of exercise. It is characterized by low intensity, rhythm, non-interruption and long duration (30 minutes or more). It is recommended to adhere to it 3 to 5 times a week. Commonly used aerobic sports include walking, brisk walking, jogging, race walking, swimming, cycling, tai chi, fitness dance, rope/aerobics, ball sports (such as badminton, tennis) and so on.
Resistance sports is a kind of resistance exercise, the main purpose is to train the muscles of the human body, the traditional resistance sports have push-ups, dumbbells, barbells and so on. To maintain muscle strength and muscle mass, a combination of aerobic exercise and strength training is recommended for people with a prior history of cancer who have been completely cured or have been completely cured by surgery or who have been tumor-free, that is, exercise similar to that of healthy people. A short warm-up is preceded by each exercise, followed by strength exercises, followed by aerobic exercises, and stretching after exercise.
Not all cancer patients are suitable for medium and high-intensity exercise, for three months after surgery, it is recommended to rest more, as far as possible to choose low-intensity exercise, such as doing housework, walking, etc. However, different cancer patients should undergo different rehabilitation training after surgery, such as lung cancer patients, who should exercise balloon blowing, windmills, stair climbing, etc., to promote lung reassurance and increase lung capacity. Breast cancer patients should strengthen wall climbing training after surgery to ensure the recovery of upper limb function on the affected side and reduce the occurrence of edema.
Exercise should pay attention to the following points:
Patients with severe anemia should postpone exercise until the anemia improves;
Immunocompromised patients, such as before the white blood cell count returns to normal, bone marrow transplant patients, avoid exercising in public places for one year after transplantation;
Patients with severe fatigue after antitumor therapy are not suitable for moderate-intensity exercise, and patients can be encouraged to do 10 minutes of low-intensity daily exercise;
Avoid infection in patients with skin lesions by avoiding contact with swimming pools, lakes, seawater, or other places where microbial exposure may occur;
Anti-resistance training should be carried out to avoid the shedding of the corresponding indwelling catheter;
Patients with comorbidities should adjust the exercise plan in light of the opinion of the corresponding specialist;
Patients with peripheral neuropathy or at risk of falls, such as ataxia, should avoid high-intensity, unprotected exercise.
Exercise should run through the whole process of treatment and rehabilitation of cancer patients, the focus is to move, as far as possible not to sit and lie down for a long time, the general principle of exercise time and exercise intensity is to do what you can, step by step.