BONDING FOR FITNESS & WELLNESS
Patients facing serious illnesses discover the benefits of working out together
The group of about 10 women kept inching toward the door, but then the topic would change, and they’d pause to hash it out. The Life with Cancer circuit training class at the Life with Cancer Family Center in Fairfax, Va., in which they’d squatted, curled and stretched, had ended 15 minutes ago, but the socializing afterward seemed just as essential to their well-being.
“I call it parking-lot counselling,” said Debra Banning, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. “We would walk out together, and we’d share our stories and help each other and talk it out. I wasn’t one to go in and have talking groups, so this is like an oasis.”
The health benefits of fitness and socialization are long established. Now, some athletic and medical organizations across the U.S. are connecting the two to extend those gains to people facing serious illness.
Studies have already shown that exercise benefits people affected by diseases such as cancer and Parkinson’s. Experts believe group exercise classes for these individuals — a population less likely to feel comfortable in a typical gym setting — can help even more.
Such classes “get people moving, and they also provide a lot of psychosocial support and shared experience of other people who’ve gone through the same types of treatments and the same kind of psychological trauma,” said Jennifer Ligibel, a physician at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.
Ligibel co-led a 2015 study of the 11-year-old Livestrong at the YMCA program, a 12-week group exercise regimen for cancer survivors available in 700 communities across the U.S. She found that in addition to improving physically, participants reported improved quality of life, which she defines as physical, social and emotional functioning.
“There’s absolutely the social aspect, and I think this is especially important for people who are living with chronic diseases,” Ligibel said.
The group dynamic provides a common denominator most gyms can’t.
“People can feel ashamed of their bodies, or they can feel ashamed of their fitness or doubt their capabilities,” said Keith Kaufman, a local sports psychologist. “They might be afraid of being judged, but once they get in there and realize it’s a welcoming community, that can keep you coming back for more. That can be a major motivating factor for people.”
Medical fitness centres, which differ from commercial fitness facilities by incorporating physicians’ input, focusing on preventive care and offering illness-specific classes, also promote socialization. For instance, Valley Health Wellness and Fitness in Winchester, Va., has 100 classes per week, including Arthritis Water Workout and Rock Steady Boxing, which is designed to help people with Parkinson’s disease improve their reflexes and neuromuscular memory and slow the progression of symptoms.
“You have to have a support group around you that understands the sacrifices and commitments you’re individually making,” said Bob Boone, president and CEO of the Medical Fitness Association, which has about 1,400 member wellness centres. “And who better to do that than other people that are experiencing the same disease that you are and going through the same issues.”
There’s also a growing demand for certifications to instruct these specialized classes. In 2017, the American Council on Exercise saw a 16 per cent year-over-year increase in exam registrations for its medical exercise specialist certification.
Cedric Bryant, ACE’s president and chief science officer, said that the aging population is “helping, I think, to forge something that should have happened decades ago, and that is that integration and co-ordination between health care and fitness and other important disciplines so that when we look at optimal health care, it really is a team sport.”