The ‘pre-hab’ gym classes that get you fit to fight cancer
EXERCISE classes on the NHS are slashing post-operation recovery times for cancer patients from half a year to just a few weeks. The ‘cancer pre-hab’ – offered before an operation – includes cycling, weight-lifting and running on a treadmill twice a week.
The initiative is part of a £200 million NHS strategy to transform cancer care and comes after research at Southampton University saw bowel-cancer patients benefit from exercise programmes.
Those who took part in weekly cycling sessions returned to their pre-surgery fitness levels after six weeks, while fitness levels for those who didn’t participate either dropped or remained at the levels post-treatment.
The programme is now being piloted at gyms and cancer-support centres across Hampshire, Liverpool, London and Bristol.
Surgery is required for almost 80 per cent of cancer patients and recovery can take up to six months, with half of operations resulting in serious complications.
Major surgery can take even longer to bounce back from if patients have previously undergone a course of chemotherapy, as toxic drugs attack healthy cells as well as cancer cells, causing nausea, low energy, loss of muscle and a rapid decrease of overall fitness.
The Royal Surrey County Hospital is enrolling 50 cancer patients in a 15-week course which starts during or just after chemotherapy treatment, and six weeks before operations. The course is held either at local hospitals or participating gyms, with a personal trainer present to coach people through each hour-long exercise session.
This programme is available only to patients facing a ten-hour procedure for oesophageal cancer, which involves two incisions to the stomach and the chest.
Mr Javed Sultan, consultant surgeon and leader of the trial at the Royal Surrey, said: ‘The impact of this surgery is like being hit by a bus. You wouldn’t run a marathon without doing training so why would you go into surgery that will have a huge impact on your body without any preparation?’
Patients at other trusts are being offered hour-long fitness sessions twice a week for six weeks, with additional low-intensity exercises done at home three days a week.
Six sessions with a psychological coach, also at gyms, are offered to help to keep patients motivated.
Roger James, 71, from Guildford, left hospital just eight days after a ten-hour operation to remove a tumour from his oesophagus in November 2017. He feels his rapid recovery wouldn’t have been possible without his pre-surgery exercise regime.
‘I’ve always been quite active,’ he says. ‘So when the oncology clinic mentioned the exercise trial, it made perfect sense. Getting fitter would obviously make me more able to withstand the surgery.’
Mr James went on the trial while having chemotherapy in July 2017. ‘The result was brilliant,’ he says. ‘Everyone expected my fitness levels to plummet after chemotherapy, but they actually changed very little because my body was fitter. Within eight days I was at home and looking after myself. Now, three months later, I am pretty much fully recovered and can get on with my life.’
The Royal Surrey pre-hab trial is partly funded by Macmillan and The Royal Surrey Minimal Access Therapy Training Unit.
To find out more about exercisebased trials nationwide, visit macmillan.org.uk and search for clinical trials, or call their support specialists on 0808 808 00 00.