‘Helps me greatly’: Alberta team explores exercise benefits for cancer patients

An Alberta team is studying how exercise after—and even during—cancer treatments can provide survival benefits. Results will be released soon.

An Alberta team is studying how exercise after—and even during—cancer treatments can provide survival benefits.

Alberta Cancer Exercise (ACE) programs have been held throughout the province since 2017, and the research team is expected to release results soon from its study of more than 2,500 participants.

Some participants are already touting the benefits.

“Very helpful, and it’s very important that they are here to guide us to do the exercises that are good for us individually,” said two-time breast cancer survivor Lynne Farley of Calgary.

Research is already revealing promising data about exercise programs in oncology treatment, including an 18-year study on colon cancer patients from all over the world recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“Hard data showing the survival benefits of exercise and those benefits, they’re comparable to what you would see with some of the drug treatments,” said Dr. Nicole Culos-Reed, a University of Calgary kinesiology professor and founder ACE.

This information is validating but not surprising for Culos-Reed, who started the ACE program for people with all kinds of cancer.

“It’s not just early stage; we’re seeing metastatic disease … really higher-risk cancers like neural oncology brain tumours,” said Culos-Reed.

Participants range from recent post-cancer to those waiting for or in the middle of treatment.

A specially trained team helps tailor exercises for individual needs and abilities.

“We’ve had people contact, and they say, ‘I have a walker; can I do your program?’ And I think at first it was like, I don’t know—let’s try it out and see, and then we can get these people into the class.” said Jessica Danyluk, a clinical exercise physiologist with ACE.

The social side of the class is just as important.

“Just being able to talk to people in the same situation as I am just helps me greatly,” said Farley.

People who qualify for ACE get the first 12 weeks free thanks to donors, but continued programs cost participants about $9 a class.

The program isn’t currently funded by the province, but people involved with ACE hope that changes.

“Because people need it. It will help them build confidence, build strength, empower them,” said Danyluk.

All of which is vital for people who have faced a lack of control due to disease.

“You’ve got to keep going—do these programs. Live each day and make the most of each day,” said Farley.