CanLift Resistance Training Exercise Program for Post Treatment Cancer Survivors

Miss Danielle GirardChief Investigator Dr Jack Cannon & Dr Stephen BirdResearch Supervisors

Presentation Overview

Introduction to the CanLift Exercise Program

Benefits of Exercise for Cancer Survivors

Post Cancer Fatigue (PCF)

Overview of the CanLift Training Program

Participant Selection Criteria

Contact Details

CanLift Training Program Accredited Exercise Physiologists in the School of Human

Movement Studies at Charles Sturt University as part of a PhD research project have developed a unique exercise program

CanLift designed to serve post-treatment cancer survivors.

The purpose of CanLift is to provide post-treatment cancer survivors in the Bathurst Community the opportunity to partake in an individualized prescriptive resistance training exercise program designed to assist in the management of cancer treatment-related symptoms.

The exercise program will be offered free of charge and will start in September, 2012 and will run for a period of eight weeks.

Persistent fatigue is a distressing symptom frequently experienced by disease-free post-treatment cancer survivors, which impacts negatively upon physical functioning and quality of life.

As such, clinicians and health care providers are increasingly recognising that Post Cancer Fatigue (PCF) is a significant health problem that warrants intervention.

The mechanisms associated with PCF are still under investigation; however, strong evidence exist suggesting that exercise is a beneficial treatment modality for managing PCF symptoms.

Post Cancer Fatigue

Exercise is considered safe following most types of cancer treatment.

Research has shown that exercise can:

Reduce cancer and treatments related side-effects such as fatigue symptoms

Increased health related quality of life in disease- free post-treatment cancer survivors and

Reduce the risk of cancer recurring in some disease-free post-treatment cancer survivors

Exercise Related Health Benefits

Previous studies have focused on the benefits of aerobic and/or mixed aerobic and resistance training modalities; few studies have exclusively examined the benefits of resistance based exercise on fatigue symptoms and health related quality of life.

Knowledge of whether resistance training exercise alone can improve fatigue symptoms in this population is currently limited. However, as post-cancer fatigue appears to be related to changes in motor drive and central

nervous system function, it isreasonable to suggest that resistancetraining will help to reduce fatiguesymptoms.

Exercise Related Health Benefits

Resistance Training (RT) in healthy populations has been shown to improve; lean body mass, muscle protein mass and contractile force, self-esteem, physical fitness and quality of life. RT influences metabolic and hormonal responses and elicits architectural and neural adaptations.

Skeletal muscle has been shown to be highly adaptable even in the presence of sever muscle loss and fatigue, provided an appropriate training stimuli is applied.

Based on this logic, it is hypothesised that an 8 week resistance training intervention will positively affect muscular strength, fatigue, functional status and quality of life in persons with PCF.

Exercise Related Health Benefits

Understanding if and how resistance training works to mitigate fatigue symptoms will assist in the development of exercise based strategies aimed at reducing symptoms in disease-free post treatment cancer survivors.

Hence, the aim of this research project is to:

Aim Of The CanLift Training Program

Examine the effect of resistance training on the symptoms of PCF in disease-free post-

treatment cancer survivors with PCF and the neuromuscular adaptations to resistance

training.

The CanLift Training Program

CanLift Training ProgramSTUDY PARTICIPANTS

Research participants include:

1) Disease-free, post treatment cancer survivors with Post Cancer Fatigue (PCF) with various cancer diagnoses (e.g. prostate, colon, testicular, ovarian etc with the exception of lung and brain cancer types)

2) Healthy post-cancer survivorswithout PCF

CanLift Training ProgramPARTICIPANTS REQUIREMENTS Healthy persons will be matched to the cancer survivor based on:

Age Height Body CompositionSleeping Patterns And Habitual Physical Activity Levels

All subjects will beAged Between 40-70 YearsNon-smokers

Participants must have no current musculoskeletal, metabolic, or cardiovascular conditions that may influence the results obtained in this study.

Cancer survivors will be disease-free and have ceased receiving cancer related treatments for a minimum period of 6 months.

CanLift Training ProgramRESEARCH GROUPSParticipants will be randomised into four groups: Two Resistance Training Groups1) Disease-free, post-treatment cancer participants with PCF who will

participate in a 8 week resistance training program

2) Healthy post-cancer survivors without PCF who will participate in a 8 week resistance training program

 

Two Control Condition Groups3) Disease-free, post-treatment cancer participants with PCF who will not

participate in a 8 week resistance training program

4) Healthy post-cancer survivors without PCF who will participate in a 8 week resistance training program

CONTROL CONDITION

Participants not undertaking the resistance training program will be instructed to not undertake any structured exercise training, continue their normal physical activities and nutrition patterns for the duration of the 8 week intervention period.

Participants will be provided with dietary and physical activity journals to document dietary and physical activities over the 8 week period.

Following the completion of data collection, participants in the control group will be invited to commence an individually tailored resistance exercise training program at CSU.

 Following data collection, participants in the control group will be

invited to complete the resistance exercise training program

CanLift Training Program

CanLift Training ProgramRESISTANCE TRAINING GROUPSThe exercise program consists of structured resistance training

sessions performed twice weekly.

A minimum of one (1) day rest will be provided between exercise sessions

The training intensity will be between 50-80% 1RM depending on pre-session fatigue questionnaire responses. Intensity will be reduced on days of heightened fatigue symptoms.

Each session will consist of a Warm-up, Conditioning and Cool-down

Session duration will be approximately 1 hours in duration

Sessions will be conducted at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst campus in the Exercise Physiology and Functional Rehabilitation Clinic, building E1

CanLift Training Program

Exercise Repetitions Sets Tempo Rest Intensity

(% 1RM)

Leg Press 8 - 12 3 2:1:2 2 min 50-80%

Leg Extension 8 - 12 3 2:1:2 2 min 50-80%

Cable Squat 8 - 12 3 2:1:2 2 min 50-80%

Lat Pulldown 8 - 12 3 2:1:2 2 min 50-80%

Chest Press 8 - 12 3 2:1:2 2 min 50-80%

Shoulder Press 8- 12 3 2:1:2 2 min 50-80%

 

Resistance Training Exercise Protocol

Exercises to be performed during each resistance training session

Participant Benefits Several meaningful health related benefits can be gained by participants, including:

Comprehensive health screening appraisal, providing information regarding risk of developing secondary health conditions (e.g. Heart disease, diabetes, obesity, etc)

Opportunity to participate in a fully supervised resistance based exercise intervention.

Exercise has demonstrated to be an effective non-pharmacological management strategy for reducing fatigue symptoms; thus an improvement in fatigue symptoms in persons with PCF can be anticipated.

Other potential health related benefits reported with participation in resistance training programs include increased bone mineral density and fat free mass, reduced fat mass and increased muscular strength.

We invite you to participate in this exciting research project

Study BenefitsThe primary benefit to Charles Sturt University is the collection of data for a PhD project, conducted by Ms Danielle Girard entitled:

A Comparison Of The Physiological, Neuromuscular, Perceptual And Performance Adaptations During Different Exercise Fatigue Tasks And Following 12

weeks Between Disease-Free Breast Cancer Survivors With Post Cancer Fatigue And Healthy Matched

Persons

Contact DetailsIf you are interested in participating in this exercise program or

would like more information please contact:

Miss Danielle Girard Dip Fitness, B. Ex Sci (Hons), ESSAM, AEP

School of Human Movement Studies

Panorama Av, Bathurst NSW 2795

Tel: 02 63 38 6101

Email: dgirard@csu.edu.au

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Courneya, K. S., Friedenreich, C. M., Sela, R. A., Quinney, H. A., Rhodes, R. E., & Jones, L. W. (2004). Exercise motivation and adherence in cancer survivors after participation in a randomized controlled trial: an attribution theory perspective. International journal of behavioral

Courneya, K., Mackey, J., & McKenzie, D. (2002). Exercise for breast cancer survivors. The Physician and Sports Medicine, 30 (8), 33, 42.

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De Backer, I., G. Schep, et al. (2009). Resistance training in cancer survivors: a systematic review. Int J Sports Med 30(10): 703-712.

De Backer, IC, Vreugdenhil, G.,Nijziel, MR, Kesta, AD., van Breda, E. &Schep, G. (2008). Long-term follow-up after cancer rehabilitation using high-intensity resistance training: persistent improvement of physical performance and quality of life. British Journal of Cancer 99:30-36

Kangas, M., D. H. Bovbjerg, et al. (2008). Cancer-related fatigue: A systematic and meta-analytic review of non-pharmacological therapies for cancer patients. Psychological Bulletin 134(5): 700.

Peterson, M., Pistilli, E., Haff, G., Hoffman, E. & Gordon, P. (2011). Progression of volume load and muscular adaptation during resistance exercise. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 111:1063-1071.