Medical Dialogues
  • Dermatology
Login Register
This site is intended for healthcare professionals only
Login Register
  • MD Brand Connect
  • Vaccine Hub
  • MDTV
    • Breaking News
    • Medical News Today
    • Health News Today
    • Latest
    • Journal Club
    • Medico Legal Update
    • Latest Webinars
    • MD Shorts
    • Health Dialogues
  • Fact Check
  • Health Dialogues
Medical Dialogues
  • Medical News & Guidelines
      • Anesthesiology
      • Cardiology and CTVS
      • Critical Care
      • Dentistry
      • Dermatology
      • Diabetes and Endocrinology
      • ENT
      • Gastroenterology
      • Medicine
      • Nephrology
      • Neurology
      • Obstretics-Gynaecology
      • Oncology
      • Ophthalmology
      • Orthopaedics
      • Pediatrics-Neonatology
      • Psychiatry
      • Pulmonology
      • Radiology
      • Surgery
      • Urology
      • Laboratory Medicine
      • Diet
      • Nursing
      • Paramedical
      • Physiotherapy
  • Health news
      • Doctor News
      • Government Policies
      • Hospital & Diagnostics
      • International Health News
      • Medical Organization News
      • Medico Legal News
      • NBE News
      • NMC News
  • Fact Check
      • Bone Health Fact Check
      • Brain Health Fact Check
      • Cancer Related Fact Check
      • Child Care Fact Check
      • Dental and oral health fact check
      • Diabetes and metabolic health fact check
      • Diet and Nutrition Fact Check
      • Eye and ENT Care Fact Check
      • Fitness fact check
      • Gut health fact check
      • Heart health fact check
      • Kidney health fact check
      • Medical education fact check
      • Men's health fact check
      • Respiratory fact check
      • Skin and hair care fact check
      • Vaccine and Immunization fact check
      • Women's health fact check
  • AYUSH
    • Ayurveda
    • Homeopathy
    • Siddha
    • Unani
    • Yoga
  • State News
      • Andaman and Nicobar Islands
      • Andhra Pradesh
      • Arunachal Pradesh
      • Assam
      • Bihar
      • Chandigarh
      • Chattisgarh
      • Dadra and Nagar Haveli
      • Daman and Diu
      • Delhi
      • Goa
      • Gujarat
      • Haryana
      • Himachal Pradesh
      • Jammu & Kashmir
      • Jharkhand
      • Karnataka
      • Kerala
      • Ladakh
      • Lakshadweep
      • Madhya Pradesh
      • Maharashtra
      • Manipur
      • Meghalaya
      • Mizoram
      • Nagaland
      • Odisha
      • Puducherry
      • Punjab
      • Rajasthan
      • Sikkim
      • Tamil Nadu
      • Telangana
      • Tripura
      • Uttar Pradesh
      • Uttrakhand
      • West Bengal
  • Medical Education
      • Ayush Education News
      • Dentistry Education News
      • Medical Admission News
      • Medical Colleges News
      • Medical Courses News
      • Medical Universities News
      • Nursing education News
      • Paramedical Education News
      • Study Abroad
  • Industry
      • Health Investment News
      • Health Startup News
      • Medical Devices News
      • Pharma News
      • Pharmacy Education News
      • Industry Perspective
  • MDTV
      • Health Dialogues MDTV
      • Health News today MDTV
      • Latest Videos MDTV
      • Latest Webinars MDTV
      • MD shorts MDTV
      • Medical News Today MDTV
      • Medico Legal Update MDTV
      • Top Videos MDTV
      • Health Perspectives MDTV
      • Journal Club MDTV
      • Medical Dialogues Show
This site is intended for healthcare professionals only
LoginRegister
Medical Dialogues
LoginRegister
  • Home
  • Medical news & Guidelines
    • Anesthesiology
    • Cardiology and CTVS
    • Critical Care
    • Dentistry
    • Dermatology
    • Diabetes and Endocrinology
    • ENT
    • Gastroenterology
    • Medicine
    • Nephrology
    • Neurology
    • Obstretics-Gynaecology
    • Oncology
    • Ophthalmology
    • Orthopaedics
    • Pediatrics-Neonatology
    • Psychiatry
    • Pulmonology
    • Radiology
    • Surgery
    • Urology
    • Laboratory Medicine
    • Diet
    • Nursing
    • Paramedical
    • Physiotherapy
  • Health news
    • Doctor News
    • Government Policies
    • Hospital & Diagnostics
    • International Health News
    • Medical Organization News
    • Medico Legal News
    • NBE News
    • NMC News
  • Fact Check
    • Bone Health Fact Check
    • Brain Health Fact Check
    • Cancer Related Fact Check
    • Child Care Fact Check
    • Dental and oral health fact check
    • Diabetes and metabolic health fact check
    • Diet and Nutrition Fact Check
    • Eye and ENT Care Fact Check
    • Fitness fact check
    • Gut health fact check
    • Heart health fact check
    • Kidney health fact check
    • Medical education fact check
    • Men's health fact check
    • Respiratory fact check
    • Skin and hair care fact check
    • Vaccine and Immunization fact check
    • Women's health fact check
  • AYUSH
    • Ayurveda
      • Ayurveda Giuidelines
      • Ayurveda News
    • Homeopathy
      • Homeopathy Guidelines
      • Homeopathy News
    • Siddha
      • Siddha Guidelines
      • Siddha News
    • Unani
      • Unani Guidelines
      • Unani News
    • Yoga
      • Yoga Guidelines
      • Yoga News
  • State News
    • Andaman and Nicobar Islands
    • Andhra Pradesh
    • Arunachal Pradesh
    • Assam
    • Bihar
    • Chandigarh
    • Chattisgarh
    • Dadra and Nagar Haveli
    • Daman and Diu
    • Delhi
    • Goa
    • Gujarat
    • Haryana
    • Himachal Pradesh
    • Jammu & Kashmir
    • Jharkhand
    • Karnataka
    • Kerala
    • Ladakh
    • Lakshadweep
    • Madhya Pradesh
    • Maharashtra
    • Manipur
    • Meghalaya
    • Mizoram
    • Nagaland
    • Odisha
    • Puducherry
    • Punjab
    • Rajasthan
    • Sikkim
    • Tamil Nadu
    • Telangana
    • Tripura
    • Uttar Pradesh
    • Uttrakhand
    • West Bengal
  • Medical Education
    • Ayush Education News
    • Dentistry Education News
    • Medical Admission News
    • Medical Colleges News
    • Medical Courses News
    • Medical Universities News
    • Nursing education News
    • Paramedical Education News
    • Study Abroad
  • Industry
    • Health Investment News
    • Health Startup News
    • Medical Devices News
    • Pharma News
      • CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) News
    • Pharmacy Education News
    • Industry Perspective
  • Home
  • Oncology
  • Oncology News
  • Physical exercise may...

Physical exercise may prevent nerve damage during chemotherapy: Study

Dr. Kamal Kant KohliWritten by Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2024-07-02T07:30:42+05:30  |  Updated On 2 July 2024 12:03 PM IST
Physical exercise may prevent nerve damage during chemotherapy: Study
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • Telegram
  • Email

Cancer treatments often cause nerve damage that can lead to long-lasting symptoms. Medication has proven ineffective in these cases. A sports scientist at the University of Basel, together with an interdisciplinary team from Germany, has now shown that simple exercises can prevent nerve damage.

Cancer therapies have improved over the years. It is no longer just about sheer survival: quality of life after recovery is gaining more importance.

Unfortunately, many cancer medications, from chemotherapy to modern immunotherapies, attack the nerves as well as the tumor cells. Some therapies, such as oxaliplatin or vinca alkaloids, leave 70 to 90 percent of patients complaining of pain, balance issues, or feelings of numbness, burning or tingling. These symptoms can be very debilitating. They can disappear following cancer treatment, but in around 50 percent they become chronic. Specialists call it chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, or CIPN for short.

A research team led by sports scientist Dr. Fiona Streckmann from the University of Basel and the German Sport University Cologne has now shown that specific exercise, concomitant to cancer therapy, can prevent nerve damage in many cases. The researchers have reported their findings in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

Exercise alongside chemo

The study involved 158 cancer patients, both male and female, who were receiving treatment either with oxaliplatin or vinca-alkaloids. The researchers divided the patients at random into three groups. The first was a control group, whose members received standard care. The other two groups completed exercise sessions twice a week for the duration of their chemotherapy, with each session lasting between 15 and 30 minutes. One of these groups carried out exercises that focused primarily on balancing on an increasingly unstable surface. The other group trained on a vibration plate.

Regular examinations over the next five years showed that in the control group around twice as many participants developed CIPN as in either of the exercise groups. In other words, the exercises undertaken alongside chemotherapy were able to reduce the incidence of nerve damage by 50 to 70 percent. In addition, they increased the patients’ subjectively perceived quality of life, made it less necessary to reduce their dose of cancer medications, and reduced mortality in the five years following chemotherapy.

The participants receiving vinca-alkaloids and performing sensorimotor training, had the largest benefit.

Ineffective medications

A lot of money has been invested over the years in reducing the incidence of CIPN, explains Streckmann. “This side effect has a direct influence on clinical treatment: for example, patients may not be able to receive the planned number of chemotherapy cycles that they actually need, the dosage of neurotoxic agents in the chemotherapy may have to be reduced, or their treatment may have to be terminated.”

Despite the investments made, there is no effective pharmacological treatment to date: various studies have shown that medications can neither prevent nor reverse this nerve damage. However, according to the latest estimates, USD 17,000 are spent per patient every year in the USA on treating nerve damage associated with chemotherapy. Streckmann’s assumption is that “doctors prescribe medications despite everything, because patients’ level of suffering is so high.”

Study ongoing in children’s hospitals

In contrast, the sports scientist emphasizes, the positive effect of exercise has been substantiated, and this treatment is very cheap in comparison. At the moment she and her team are working on guidelines for hospitals, so that they can integrate the exercises into clinical practice as supportive therapy. In addition, since 2023 a study has been ongoing in six children’s hospitals in Germany and Switzerland (PrepAIR), which is intended prevent sensory and motor dysfunctions in children receiving neurotoxic chemotherapy.

“The potential of physical activity is hugely underestimated,” says Fiona Streckmann. She very much hopes that the results of the newly published study will lead to more sports therapists being employed in hospitals, in order to better exploit this potential.

Reference:

Streckmann F, Elter T, Lehmann HC, et al. Preventive Effect of Neuromuscular Training on Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathy: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. Published online July 01, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.2354.

JAMA Internal MedicineexercisechemotherapyCancer
Source : JAMA Internal Medicine
Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli
Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

Show Full Article
Next Story

Editorial

ABYSS Trial Finds Elevated BP, HR & Deleterious CV Outcomes After Beta blocker Withdrawal Post-MI: EuroPCR 2025 Update

ABYSS Trial Finds Elevated BP, HR & Deleterious CV Outcomes After Beta blocker Withdrawal Post-MI:...

Aspirin Use in Male Smokers Aged 40-45 Years with Hypertension: Identifying the Ideal Candidates

Aspirin Use in Male Smokers Aged 40-45 Years with Hypertension: Identifying the Ideal Candidates

National Consensus 2025 on Role of Bisoprolol Across CV Continuum in Women: Top 10 Takeaways

National Consensus 2025 on Role of Bisoprolol Across CV Continuum in Women: Top 10 Takeaways

Relevance of Pioglitazone in Indian T2DM Care Continuum

Relevance of Pioglitazone in Indian T2DM Care Continuum

Azmarda Outperforms Generic Sacubitril/Valsartan in HFrEF Management, says new study

Azmarda Outperforms Generic Sacubitril/Valsartan in HFrEF Management, says new study

View All

Journal Club Today

Study Unveils Molecular Links between Air Pollution and Negative Birth Outcomes

Study Unveils Molecular Links between Air Pollution and Negative Birth Outcomes

View All

Health News Today

Health Bulletin 06/June/2025

Health Bulletin 06/June/2025

View All
© 2022 All Rights Reserved.
Powered By: Hocalwire
X
We use cookies for analytics, advertising and to improve our site. You agree to our use of cookies by continuing to use our site. To know more, see our Cookie Policy and Cookie Settings.Ok