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Exercise Can Help Cancer Patients Survive
New training courses can help your team provide support.
By 2026, the US is expected to have 20.3 million cancer survivors, according to the National Cancer Institute. Even though treatments have improved, medical interventions, such as chemotherapy, can still result in side effects.
For decades, evidence has mounted that structured exercise is an important tool in cancer prevention, as well as a tremendous benefit for those battling the disease. Now, the results of a major, groundbreaking, long-term study in six countries indicate for the first time that exercise can help improve the chance of survival from cancer.
A 14-year randomized control trial of 889 patients at 55 centers in the US, UK, Australia, France, Canada, and Israel was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It was also presented at the world’s largest cancer conference, held by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), May 30-June 3 in Chicago.
After receiving surgery and chemotherapy, the study participants, who had either Stage II or Stage III colon cancer, were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. The treatment group participated in a structured, three-year exercise program supported by a personal trainer/life coach. Most chose to walk briskly for 45 minutes four times a week, though they could choose to bike, jog, swim, or kayak. The control group received a booklet on healthy lifestyles.
Participants in the treatment group lived longer without their cancer returning and without the occurrence of new cancers. They had a 37% lower risk of dying and a 28% lower risk of a recurrent or new cancer than those in the control group.
The study was presented at a conference session entitled “Good as a Drug.” Dr. Julie Gralow, chief medical officer of ASCO, told The Guardian that she would have named it “Better Than a Drug” because exercise has no side effects. “When I started three decades ago, it was still in an era where we’d be gentle and say, don’t overdo yourself when you’re on chemo. We’ve reversed that.”
Dr. Christopher Booth, the senior author of the paper and a professor of oncology at Queen’s University in Canada, told The New York Times: “This is an intervention that improves survival and should be standard of care.”
“When I started three decades ago, it was still in an era where we’d be gentle and say, don’t overdo yourself when you’re on chemo. We’ve reversed that.” Dr. Julie Gralow
More Research Supporting Exercise as a Cancer Intervention
Reduction in invasive breast cancer risk
Evidence continues to build for the effectiveness of physical activity to help reduce the risk of cancer or help those diagnosed cope with the disease.
• Fitness and muscular strength can cut cancer deaths by half. Cancer treatments can weaken the heart and muscles, so researchers at Edith Cowan University in Australia investigated whether muscular strength and cardiorespiratory fitness might be associated with a lower risk of death from cancer treatments. Their meta-analysis of 42 recent studies involved nearly 47,000 patients with various types and stages of cancer.
• Exercise and weight maintenance reduces cancer risk. A study of more than 315,000 individuals found that undertaking exercise and weight maintenance together was far more effective at reducing the risk of cancer than doing one or the other. It was the first study to investigate how both activities affect risk reduction.
“Maintaining a healthy weight, and in particular, having a waist circumference within the recommended level, and being physically active along with eating a healthy diet are all crucial steps to reduce cancer risk,” says Dr. Helen Croker, assistant director of research and policy at the World Cancer Research Fund, which supported the study.
• Physical activity causes a lower risk of breast cancer. Researchers from Australia, the UK, and US have documented a causal relationship between overall activity levels and cancer risk in their study data from 130,957 women, 76,505 of whom had breast cancer. Previous research has shown a correlation between physical activity and lowered risk of breast cancer but not causation.
A higher level of physical activity, or general movement, was associated with a 41% reduction in invasive breast cancer risk. “We saw a risk reduction across all breast cancer types,” says Brigid Lynch, associate professor at the Cancer Council Victoria in Australia, the study’s lead author.
Julie Main Knew the Power of Exercise Firsthand
Long before research confirmed the life-extending power of exercise for cancer patients, one fitness industry leader was already living proof. Julie Main, former co-owner of West Coast Athletic Clubs (WCAC), understood that movement could be medicine.
The revelation that exercise could help mitigate some side effects of cancer treatments motivated Main to make exercise an important part of her treatment after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993.
Main continued to exercise after her cancer diagnosis. To her physician’s surprise, she endured her treatments better than other patients. Remarkably, she finished marathons and triathlons as she continued to fight the disease.
Based on her experience, in 1994, Main, her business partner Paula Lilly, and others at WCAC’s Santa Barbara Athletic Club created Cancer WellFit, a supervised, small-group exercise program for first-year cancer survivors. Since then, Lilly estimates that it has helped more than 2,000 people.
Sadly, Main died from cancer on May 4, 2009, but her prescience in utilizing exercise to reduce symptoms of cancer treatments and the disease itself have helped redefine how cancer patients approach a diagnosis.
Main was recognized for her pioneering efforts and industry leadership in March when she was inducted into the first class of the HFA Hall of Fame at The HFA Show 2025 in Las Vegas.
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Health & Fitness Business (HFB) is the leading health and fitness industry publication. Published monthly by the Health & Fitness Association (HFA) and distributed free to the industry, HFB offers analysis of the opportunities, challenges, issues and news that impact the industry.
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