For Cancer Survivors, Exercise Can Significantly Reduce Pain
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Cancer survivors who exercise regularly may experience a significant reduction in lingering pain resulting from their tumors and treatments, a new study suggests.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Melbourne in Australia, examined exercise habits and pain levels for more than 10,000 cancer survivors and more than 51,000 adults without any history of tumors. Roughly half the adults in each group got the equivalent of at least 150 minutes a week of moderate or vigorous physical activity, the minimum recommended under U.S. exercise guidelines.
Compared with cancer survivors who didn’t get at least this much exercise, those who did were 16 percent less likely to experience intense pain, according to study results published February 12 in Cancer.
Subjects didn’t need to go all out to see an improvement in their pain levels. The majority of people in the study — with and without a cancer history — reported that walking was their main form of exercise.
What Causes Pain Due to Cancer?
“Pain in cancer survivors is common,” says Dawn Hershman, MD, a professor and the deputy director at Columbia University Medical Center’s Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York City.
“It can come from ongoing treatment, such as hormonal therapies that can cause joint pain and stiffness; it can come from prior treatments that affect the nerves and muscle; it can come from radiation and surgery that can affect the nerves; and for some it can come from cancer that has spread to other parts of the body,” says Dr. Hershman, who wasn’t involved in the new study.
Exercise Can Also Reduce Pain in People Who Never Had Cancer
The magnitude of pain reduction associated with exercise was similar for cancer survivors and for individuals without any history of cancer, the study found.
“In general, people who are more active do have less pain,” says the lead study author, Christopher Swain, PhD, a physiology researcher at the University of Melbourne in Australia. “This may be related to some of the specific benefits of exercise — such as the biochemical, neuromuscular, or psychological effects.”
Exercise may act similarly in the body to reduce pain whether or not people have a history of cancer, Hershman says.
“Physical activity may have central effects on pain pathways and may also have biological effects that improve the amount of oxygen tissues get,” she says. “It may reduce weight that can increase pain, and it can also have psychological effects in improving mood and decreasing fatigue, improving sleep, and reducing anxiety.”
Pick Any Exercise You Enjoy and Can Do Regularly
One limitation of the study is that it wasn’t designed to prove whether or how specific types or amounts of activity might directly reduce pain levels. It’s also possible that at least some of the connection between activity levels and pain levels may be because healthier people have fewer sources of pain and an easier time doing workouts.
Even so, the results underscore that pain reduction may be one of many other benefits of being physically active to whatever extent is possible, Dr. Swain says.
“I would suggest performing activities that you enjoy and are able to do on a regular basis, more so than targeting a specific type or quantity,” Swain suggests. “This could include walking around your neighborhood with a friend or family member, or, if you feel up to it, going for a jog around a park — whatever gives you enjoyment.”
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