Carol Blecher Discusses Exercise as "Prehabilitation" for Patients With Cancer

Carol Blecher, MS, RN, AOCN, Trinitas Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses using exercise not only as rehabilitation for patients with cancer, but also “prehabilitation”.

Evidence suggests that exercise programs should be implemented at the time of diagnosis, even before the patient starts chemotherapy or radiation. So, the team at Trinitas Regional Medical Center and Trinitas Comprehensive Cancer Center developed a collaborative to refer patients to exercise programs early on. Their results are measured by tracking fatigue at each session.

Though it is too soon to collect and analyze results from the collaborative, other studies have indicated that frequent exercise can help offset fatigue.