One sentence shouted out to me in an article about how an exercise regimen designed for astraunauts may help mitigate aftereffects in cancer survivors: "Cancer is the only major chronic disease condition in which a comparable countermeasures program is not an aspect of standard management." (article by Strickland)
For decades, doctors have been routinely prescribing cardiac rehab to survivors of heart attacks. Yet rehab is still not part of standard oncology care despite longstanding knowledge that treatments often lead to “decrease in muscle mass, and…bone demineralization and changes in heart function…[and] chemo brain." In fact, patients are often advised to rest before and during treatment, and may have to ask permission to exercise.
With 90% of early-stage cancer patients surviving long-term, "Many patients aren't dying from their cancer, but they're now at risk of dying from these side effects. Using NASA's exercise plan could help with this."
To be fair, astraunauts were expected to survive, which prompted the development of the program. Meanwhile, back then half of cancer patients did not survive 5 years.
(from commentary by researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and NASA, published in Cell) "The countermeasures program created by NASA might help cancer patients… We really need to do a lot more research and a lot more work…"
Yes, we do. Until then, deconditioning is deconditioning, whatever the cause. Healthy Survivors can work with their healthcare team to adapt proven measures used in other specialties, especially when the measures can’t hurt.
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It’s Best to Hope for the Best Illustration by Emma Mathes
Healing Hope, p. 34