WASHINGTON — Even during treatment, Lance Armstrong kept up his training.
During the fall and winter of 1996 and 1997, after surgery to remove a cancerous testicle, the world-class cyclist received chemotherapy. Between bouts of chemotherapy, even as he was losing muscle, he rode. After therapy, he rode some more.
Last July, a fully recovered Armstrong won the most prestigious event in cycling--the Tour de France.
And, although researchers can't say whether Armstrong's training during treatment helped him beat the disease, they do say studies increasingly indicate that physical activity can help cancer patients.
"Based on my expertise, what would I recommend if my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer? I would recommend exercise," said Kerry S. Courneya, a researcher at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. The Canadian scientist's review of 24 studies on exercise and cancer was published in Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
The studies have limitations, Courneya said. But, taken together, they indicate that staying active while cancer is in an early stage can help people retain quality of life and retard the loss of strength and endurance that accompanies the disease and its treatment.
"Cancer patients, even though they are on chemotherapy or during radiation, show many of the same types of fitness benefits that many of the regular population would show," he said.
However, there are many forms of cancer, and the research does not cover all of them, so any conclusions must be limited to the types of cancers studied, Courneya cautioned. Most of the studies involved breast cancer.
The new research looks so promising that the American Cancer Society is revising its exercise recommendations, according to Colleen Doyle, director of nutrition and physical activity.
"It used to be there wasn't anything out there, so we would tell people, 'Conserve your energy,' " Doyle said.
But, although the research indicates exercise can be helpful, there still are people who should not do it, Doyle said. These include patients whose cancer has spread to the bone or who have lost bone density as a side effect of cancer treatment, she said.
Similarly, treatment may result in nerve damage that can make a person prone to falls, and certain medications can affect major organs in ways that limit activity, she said.
"We will certainly recommend that people talk to their health-care providers before they do anything," Doyle said.
