Exercise Priming in Cancer Therapy: Timing Exercise to Support Treatment

Introduction

Exercise should no longer be viewed only as rehabilitation after cancer treatment. That position is outdated. Exercise can be used before, during, and after cancer therapy to alter the physiological environment in which treatment is delivered and recovery occurs and even timed closely with other medical cancer treatments. This is the basis of exercise priming.

Exercise priming is the deliberate timing of exercise around cancer therapy to exploit the acute effects of muscular work on blood flow, oxygenation, immune-cell mobilisation, metabolic regulation, endothelial function, inflammation, and autonomic control. These responses occur rapidly. They are measurable. They are clinically relevant. And they occur in the same timeframes in which chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted agents, radionuclide therapies, and supportive medications are administered.

Cancer treatment is not delivered into a passive body. It is delivered into a dynamic physiological system. That system may be deconditioned, inflamed, insulin-resistant, hypoxic, sarcopenic, immunologically suppressed, and metabolically unstable. Or it may be trained, perfused, oxygenated, metabolically controlled, and immunologically more responsive.

Exercise is one of the most effective interventions we have for shifting that system in the right direction.

For the full story including a deep dive into the suitability of and recommendations for exercise for cancer patients, click on the below link to read Professor Robert Newton's fantastic article:

https://profrobnewton.substack.com?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web