Since 2000, the number of people diagnosed with cancer has increased significantly (93%), with an estimated 169,000 cases diagnosed in 2024 alone. Cancer survival rate has also continued to improve, meaning that more Australians are living with a cancer diagnosis. Exercise plays an important role in cancer prevention and management, but also has an important role in improving long term health and well-being.
Exercise Benefits for Cancer
Cancer and its treatments such as chemotherapy, often lead to many negative side effects and problems which impact health and quality of life and are also linked to poorer survival and more aggressive disease and include:
- Heart damage (also known as cardiotoxicity)
- Shortness of breath
- Cognitive impairment
- Peripheral neuropathy (damage to the body’s nerves)
- Weight gain and obesity
- Sleep problems
- Psychological distress, including living with depression and anxiety
- Reduced aerobic capacity
- Reduced cardiorespiratory capacity
- Reduced physical strength
- Increased fatigue
A recent umbrella review published in 2025 suggests that exercise plays an important role in improving a range of health outcomes in people with cancer. The study found that exercise is a powerful tool in reducing and counteracting these side effects. Key findings include:-
- Exercise has anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties by improving blood flow to the brain and supporting brain development, specifically the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus.
- Exercise can reduce body fat, improve muscle mass, and lower harmful biomarkers.
- Different types of exercise, including aerobic, resistance, and mind–body practices like Tai Chi, have been shown to improve physical health and reduce inflammation in cancer patients, potentially leading to better outcomes.
- Exercise has been shown to significantly improve sleep, enhance wellbeing and reduce anxiety and depression.
- Exercise, both during and after treatment can improve your cardiorespiratory fitness, build muscle strength, reduce fatigue and pain, and improve quality of life and social well-being.
Exercise Recommendations
The current exercise guidelines for cancer patients recommend 150 minutes of
moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, or 75 minutes of high-intensity aerobic exercise (or a combination of these) per week. It is also recommended that patients complete two
sessions of resistance training (muscle strengthening exercises) per week.
Exercise is considered safe and feasible when it is progressed gradually, and in line with a
cancer survivor’s past and current fitness level, abilities, preferences,
previous/current/future cancer treatment, cancer-specific factors, treatment-related risk
factors and the presence and severity of treatment symptoms/side effects.
It is important to note that an exercise program should be individualised to each person.
Accredited Exercise Physiologists have the necessary skills and expertise to prescribe and
monitor exercise in cancer survivors. They can assist with triaging the level of supervision
you may require to ensure safety of exercise, as well as provide you the tools and
information to safely and appropriately progress towards the guidelines and maximise the
benefit of exercise for cancer treatment.
Tips for getting started with exercise
- Start gradually – slowly introduce exercise including both aerobic and resistance-based exercise.
- Spread aerobic and resistance-based exercise sessions throughout the week.
- Aerobic exercise includes activities like walking, cycling and swimming, and start by performing this in ‘bouts’ of 10 minutes in duration, resting as you need.
- Resistance-based exercises should include training the major muscle groups of the body twice a week, and can include body-weight exercises, weights, resistance machines or therabands. Body weight exercises may include things like sit-to-stands and wall pushups.
- Flexibility and mobility exercises like stretching and range of motion exercise can be useful in addressing joint range and muscle restrictions resulting from cancer treatments and surgeries.
- Some exercise is better than no exercise, and breaking up long periods of sedentary behaviours such as sitting or lying down with movement is a good place to start.
- If you are experiencing symptoms like fever, low blood cell count or worsening symptoms or side effects, it is important that you consult with your healthcare professional and an Accredited Exercise Physiologist before getting started.
Overall, exercise plays a pivotal role in the management of cancer and treatment-related symptoms and side effects, as well as improving quality of life and long-term survival of people living with cancer. Consulting with an Accredited Exercise Physiologist is a great place to start as they can provide you with a suitable, safe and individualised exercise program to effectively treat and manage your conditions, and tailor the program to meet your goals, abilities and preferences.
For more information or to book an appointment, please call The Physio Clinic on 8342 1233,
or you can book directly online through our website.
Written by Jade Conlon, Exercise Physiologist at Blackwood
References
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2024). Cancer data in Australia. Retrieved
from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/cancer/cancer-data-in-australia
Bai, X.-L., Li, Y., Feng, Z.-F., Cao, F., Wang, D.-D., Ma, J., Yang, D., Li, D.-R., Fang, Q.,
Wang, Y., Jiang, X.-F., Huang, D.-H., Li, X.-Y., Guo, J.-K., Zhao, N., Li, Z.-T., Ma, Q.-P., Wang, L., Wu, Q.-J., & Gong, T.-T. (2025). Impact of exercise on health outcomes in people with cancer: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials. British Journal of Sports Medicine. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2024-109392.
Hayes, S. C., Newton, R. U., Spence, R. R., & Galvão, D. A. (2019). The Exercise and
Sports Science Australia position statement: Exercise medicine in cancer management.
Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 22(11), 1175–1199.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2019.05.00
