In 2024, experts estimated that, within the United States, approximately 4.1 million women had a personal history of breast cancer. With such a significant population of breast cancer survivors, there is a promising potential in strategies to reduce recurrence and prolong survivorship among these women, with exercise playing a key role.
Recent research has supported the benefits of exercise for breast cancer survivors, leading the American Cancer Society to establish guidance for cancer survivors to get regular physical activity as soon as possible after treatment. These guidelines include participating in regular physical activity, building towards a goal of 150-300 minutes of moderate activity or 75-150 minutes of vigorous activity each week. In addition to aerobic activity, the guidelines suggest stretching and resistance training at least twice a week.
Unfortunately, studies have noted that only a small portion of breast cancer survivors met these expectations. Barriers such as fatigue, physical limitations, fear of injury, and lack of knowledge about safe and effective exercise regimens contribute to this. Breast cancer survivors, on average, also tend to exercise less than similar aged women without a history of breast cancer. These statistics highlight an urgent need to implement new strategies to encourage exercise among women living as breast cancer survivors.
A study published in JAMA Network Open investigated the usefulness of increased communication about the benefits of exercise for breast cancer survivors. Performing a systematic review, the researchers searched for scientific articles that describe communication made to breast cancer survivors about physical activity and identified 39 applicable publications. Among these articles, 32 included information consistent with exercise guidance for aerobic activity and seven included information strength training recommendations.
The researchers found that these publications often discussed the benefits of exercise (~50%), but rarely referred to safety practices associated with exercise (~8%). Overall, the studies considered in this analysis trended towards White (~85%), educated (~50% college graduates) women. Further, most women (~67%) had completed treatment. Notably, almost all studies that included interventions for exercise communication (>90%) reported increased exercise in participants.
Based on this systematic review, the authors conclude that exercise communication has a favorable effect, encouraging breast cancer survivors to increase their physical activity. However, the researchers stress the urgent need for future research to evaluate how interventions impact populations of underrepresented groups of breast cancer survivors. The study underscores the importance of exercise communication between health care providers and breast cancer survivors.
Sources: CA Cancer J Clin, Cancer Epi Biomark Prev, JAMA Netw Open