[Ursula]

Latest research from Finland:

Exercise promotes stronger bone in breast cancer patients


Breast cancer patients are now being urged to engage in strenuous exercise following the conclusion of chemotherapy treatments. A new Finnish study shows that exercise increases the density of bone in cancer patients.


Chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer put women at risk for a bone density loss of up to 7 percent a year. The normal loss in healthy women is only one percent.
For this new Finnish study, 573 women who had received treatment for breast cancer were divided into groups of those who engaged in lots of exercise and those who exercised less. The more active group was put through strenuous aerobic and gym exercises on a weekly basis. It was noted that those who exercised more had an increase in bone density. In women below the age of menopause, loss of bone density in the pelvis was completely stopped.

"This is a good result because previously, it has been uncertain if a recovering breast cancer patient, or in general any cancer patient, can exercise immediately following treatment. This study shows that even strenuous exercise is completely safe and, in addition, it is even beneficial," says Dr Tiina Saarto, who heads the cancer clinic for the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District.

Saarto adds that the same thing could be tried with patients recovering from other types of cancer, as well.
"I'd say that this information would be useful for prostate cancer patients. Treatment of prostate cancer also affects the hormones. More study just has to be done into exercise therapies for cancer patients."
The study was carried out between September 2005 and September 2007 at hospitals in Helsinki, Tampere and Turku, as well as at the Institute for Health Promotion Research in Tampere with patients between the ages of 35 and 68.

It is the most extensive study of its kind ever carried out.

Source: yle.fi/uutiset/news/2011/11/