Walking Could Lower Fatigue In Cancer Patients, Study Shows

After being surgically treated for cancer, patients commonly feel fatigue -- a kind so severe that it interferes with daily life, and can even go on to spur anxiety and depression. But a new study suggests that taking regular walks could help to decrease this exhaustion.

As many as 96 percent of cancer patients experience fatigue from their treatments. "This is not the normal 'I-stayed-up-too-late' fatigue," study researcher Dr. Theresa Yeo, of the Thomas Jefferson University School of Nursing and Jefferson Pancreas Tumor Registry, said in a statement. "It's really being exhausted, and it doesn't go away with sleep. It hits patients in their daily activities -- simple things like doing your personal hygiene in the morning, getting up and getting dressed, going from the bedroom to wherever you eat breakfast."

But the new research shows that an activity as simple as walking could help to lessen this fatigue. The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons included 102 people who had just had surgery done for their pancreatic or periampullary cancers. Eighty-five percent of them reported having fatigue at a moderate to severe level.

Upon discharge from the hospital, half of the study participants were not instructed to do any sort of exercise upon going home. The other half of the study participants were told to do 20-minute walking exercises for their first month after discharge, leaving a five-minute warm-up and cool-down period. Throughout the three-month study, the study participants in the walking group were instructed to try to walk 90 to 150 extra minutes per week.

At the end of the three-month study, the people in the walking group showed a decrease in fatigue levels of 27 percent, as well as a decrease in pain. Meanwhile, the people in the other group had improvements of 19 percent.

"The message in pancreatic cancer care has typically been that these patients are just too sick to do this, but that's not true anymore," Dr. Yeo said in the statement. "With increased surgical expertise and the use of postoperative critical care pathways [care maps], more patients are feeling better sooner and going home earlier after their operations. There is no reason that patients can't become active, even if they did not exercise before."

Walking can still be a fatigue-buster for people who haven't undergone a cancer treatment procedure. A 2008 University of Georgia study showed that for people with fatigue and who lead sedentary lifestyles, doing a low-intensity exercise regularly can result in a 20 percent boost in energy, as well as a 65 percent decrease in fatigue.

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Comments

[livingbettertherapy]

01:28 PM on 04/05/2012

Years ago, I was badly injured and underwent surgery to replace every ligament in my right knee. The surgeon told me sadly that I would never run again and probably not even walk that well. This was very discouraging coming from an expert. I went to physical therapy and began listening to encouraging words from people who had no idea how bad my situation was and encouraging myself when no one else would. I ended up exercising so hard that I broke some of the very expensive machines used in my physical therapy. I was able to do this because whatever exercise the physical therapist had me do, I also did on my own for hours every day, as if I were getting ready for the Olympics. After a few months, my surgeon admitted that he was puzzled. He told me that my recovery was unprecedented because I could actually run again. The bottom line is that when you take back your pen from someone else and write your own story, it always has a better ending.

We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.
Vince Lombardi