Exercise is a well-established supportive care intervention that reduces treatment-related side effects and improves quality of life, yet many individuals’ receiving chemotherapy do not achieve sufficient activity levels. Despite endorsement by numerous medical and health organizations, only about 15% of patients report receiving an oncologist referral to exercise services, largely due to...
Background:
The multinational PREFERABLE-EFFECT RCT (NCT04120298) demonstrated beneficial effects of a 9-month supervised exercise program on fatigue and quality of life among patients with metastatic breast cancer (mBC). As a secondary outcome of the study, we investigated the impact of the exercise program (2x/week resistance, aerobic and balance training) on systemic inflammation and...
Physical activity induces rapid, selective leukocyte mobilization, thereby modulating immune surveillance. Among the most responsive cell types to high-intensity exercise are NK and CD8+ T cells, key effectors of immune defense against infected and malignant cells. However, comprehensive characterization of acute high-intensity interval training (HIIT)-induced effects on leukocyte populations...
PURPOSE: Even when exercise oncology programs are integrated into clinical care, impact is limited when referrals do not translate into attendance. We sought to identify predictors of attendance to a referral-based exercise oncology program to develop targeted interventions for improving engagement.
METHODS: Patients referred to a clinical exercise oncology program (2023-2025) were...
Background: The MOVE-ONKO Project aims to design and evaluate a comprehensive care pathway for cancer patients in need of exercise therapy. The goal is to develop, implement, and sustain a structured care pathway to gain cancer patient access into exercise therapy options.
Methods: This two-phase exploratory study used a mixed-methods design. Evaluation of the comprehensive exercise therapy...
Exercise reduces colorectal cancer risk, but its protective mechanisms in early carcinogenesis remain unclear. Male C57BL/6 mice (n=10/group) underwent 6-week progressive swimming (30 to 60 min/day, 5 d/week, 0 to 2% body weight load) initiated either before (preconditioning) or concurrent with (during) Azoxymethane (AOM) exposure (10 mg/kg/week i.p. x 6w). Aberrant foci and mucin-depleted...
Introduction:
Numerous studies have reported exercise-induced changes in circulating factors that may partly explain the association between physical activity and reduced cancer risk (1, 2). Acute exercise-conditioned serum from both healthy individuals and patients has been shown to reduce the viability of several cancer cell lines, suggesting that transient changes in soluble factors such...
Tagline:
Connecting Research, Practice, and People in Exercise Oncology
Background:
Exercise is increasingly recognised as a powerful intervention in cancer prevention, treatment, and survivorship. In Sweden, SweCanMove has been established as an independent network to connect research, clinical practice, and community engagement, aiming to enhance the integration of exercise across cancer...
Introduction: Quality-assured oncological exercise therapy (qOET) is increasingly recognized as a safe and effective supportive intervention to improve physical functioning, reduce treatment-related adverse effects, and enhance quality of life in pediatric cancer patients. However, its integration into routine care remains inconsistent, highlighting the need to identify key barriers and...
Background: Colorectal cancer and its treatments accelerate declines in skeletal muscle health, decreasing physical function and increasing vulnerability to morbidity and mortality. While resistance exercise training (RET) is recommended to counter these declines, individuals with cancer may experience a blunted adaptive response. Further, to date RET’s impact on skeletal muscle ultrastructure...
Exercise is essential for managing side effects, maintaining fitness, and improving quality of life across the cancer continuum. However, current guidelines lack practical recommendations for adjusting exercise based on daily fluctuations. Autoregulation—the ability to adjust exercise variables based on individual readiness to train—offers a pragmatic strategy to address daily fluctuations and...
INTRODUCTION
It has been suggested that exercise during chemotherapy drug infusions might be beneficial for cancer patients. The rationale is that pre-clinical studies have shown increased tumor blood flow during exercise, which could enhance drug delivery into the tumor. However, this phenomenon remains sparsely investigated in the clinical setting in cancer patients and was therefore the...
PURPOSE: Cancer related fatigue (CRF) is highly prevalent among individuals living with advanced cancer. Although cancer rehabilitation programs can reduce CRF over time (e.g., 8-12 weeks), the immediate or “acute” effect of exercise sessions on CRF is unclear. This study compared CRF from immediately before to after exercise sessions among individuals living with advanced cancer who were...
Introduction: This project aims to (1) assess the effect of exercise interventions on cancer survival using data from randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and (2) establish an open-access, continuously updated resource synthesizing evidence on exercise and cancer survival.
Methods: A systematic search for this living review (PROSPERO: CRD420251081208) was conducted in October 2025 to...
Purpose/Objective
To evaluate the value and cost-effectiveness of two exercise oncology implementation models within radiotherapy care. The study aimed to determine whether embedding accredited exercise physiologists (AEPs) in cancer clinics improves patient quality of life and represents value for money compared to standard care.
Material/Methods
A mixed-methods design was employed across...
BACKGROUND: Patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) are often excluded from exercise research and programming, despite potential benefits. Given the unique needs and understudied relationship of this population with exercise, we sought to evaluate barriers to participation in supervised exercise for women with MBC.
METHODS: Eligible patients (n=60) had stable MBC, were not meeting...
Background: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is the most prevalent and severe symptom experienced among cancer patients. It impacts both physical and mental well-being and is not relieved by rest. Research indicates that exercise may improve CRF.
Methods: We conducted four Cochrane systematic reviews to assess the impact of three exercise modalities (i.e., cardiovascular training (CT),...
Background:
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have become standard of care first-line therapy for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (aRCC). Although ICIs improve survival, treatment outcomes are limited due to primary and secondary resistance as well as immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Preclinical work suggests that exercise may enhance antitumor immunity, reduce...
Purpose: Returning to work after a cancer diagnosis can be challenging due to a number of factors, including cancer- and treatment-related side effects such as fatigue. Exercise is known to have beneficial effects on fatigue and may therefore also support return to work. The aim of this study was to investigate whether exercising after diagnosis is positively associated with return to...
Background: Exercise is an established supportive therapy in oncology, with growing interest in its role for individuals with incurable disease who commonly experience progressive functional decline. Resistance training is recommended in current guidelines, but its effectiveness and clinical translation depend on appropriate application and transparent reporting of key exercise principles...
PURPOSE: Preclinical evidence suggests that acute exercise can modulate immune responses and enhance tumor perfusion, potentially improving chemo-immunotherapy (ChemoIO) efficacy. The ERICA trial (NCT04676009) evaluated the feasibility, safety, and preliminary effects of acute aerobic exercise performed immediately prior to ChemoIO in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung...
Background:
Breast cancer survivors face an elevated risk of cardiovascular dysfunction due to cardiotoxic treatments, physical inactivity, and excess body weight. Overweight survivors represent a particularly vulnerable subgroup, yet remain underrepresented in exercise oncology research focused on cardiac outcomes. Identifying effective exercise interventions to improve cardiopulmonary...
Purpose: Structured exercise, nutrition, and stress-management programs improve survival and quality of life (QoL) in cancer survivors, but adoption is limited by low adherence, cost, and access barriers. We evaluated a synchronous telehealth intervention delivering computationally personalized regimens in exercise, nutrition, and stress relief, guided by oncology-trained health coaches,...
Background
Patients with advanced colorectal cancer frequently present impairments in clinical parameters and physical function even before initiating chemotherapy, which raises concerns about their participation in an exercise training program. Baseline characterization is essential for designing individualized and feasible exercise interventions and understanding how initial physiological...
