Does Exercise Lessen the Side Effects of Breast Cancer Therapies?
The role of exercise in alleviating the side effects of cancer treatment has been the subject of an estimated 70 studies thus far, according to exercise physiologist Lee W. Jones, Ph.D., assistant research professor at Duke University Medical Center. Half of these clinical trials were focused specifically on breast cancer. And about half of these were performed during treatment, with the remainder performed afterwards. “The role of exercise in those two settings is different,” Jones says. “A lot of the studies performed during treatment looked at common symptoms, such as fatigue, a major side effect of most chemotherapies. Exercise has been shown to reduce these symptoms in clinically meaningful numbers.” The role of exercise in other areas, however, is less clear. A few investigations have looked at the effect of exercise on nausea and diarrhea, with favorable findings, but more studies are needed to know for sure. Clinical findings with immune function are unclear as well. “We know e
