Making Exercise a Standard of Care in Cancer Treatment [Podcast Series]

“My vision for this is that we would really advocate for exercise to become part of standard of care in cancer and that Maple Tree would be viewed as the authority on exercise oncology in the world.”

“But when you look at it as a whole and the impact that it has on the patient, the way that I feel is how can we not offer them exercise when we can visibly see the impact that it has in the life of someone? You can't say that about chemotherapy. You can't say that about a lot of the traditional treatments that are out there that are standard of care. Here's something with no side effects, that chemically, mechanically, every single, everything all the way around is going to help someone. And how can we not make this standard of care?”

“I have not seen updated stats, but pre-COVID, we're talking only about 2% of cancer patients exercised. And so when we do the education piece, we really want to feel, we want to help the patients feel like they can do this on their own, that we will help them and get them started and work with them one on one individually each week. But also it's going to be up to them to continue it on the rest of the six days of that week. And ultimately, that's how they're going to see the benefits.”

“But that showed me that even in the end of life, exercise can still improve quality of life. And getting people to that mindset that something is better than nothing. And if all I can do today is walk to the mailbox, well, then let's start there. If tomorrow you're a little stronger, maybe we'll try to go around a block. But doing what you're able to do, and doing that, that's always going to be better than never even trying.”

“Every study I've ever seen, every person I've ever seen that has exercised leaves that session better than what they were when they came in. And that, to me, is the best definition of quality of life that I can give you that they never regret coming in, even if it was hard for them to get there. And you can look at the statistics and the measurements that we're able to make. And yes, there is a dramatic decrease in anxiety, a dramatic decrease in depression. Patients feel more supported—I think it's like 60%—more supported than what they had before they came to Maple Tree or before they began an exercise program.”

“And if you look at how cancer is treated, that's how cancer is treated. You have a tumor board, and they bring up a case and they all talk about the support system for that patient, the health history of that patient, and together they create this plan of care for that patient that's individualized to that patient. You're not going to go to a group chemotherapy class. So why would you go to an exercise program that's not going to be tailored specifically to you?”

“But I think that we've been able to share back to our partner hospitals the impact that we have. They've heard about the impact from the patients directly and from the nurses and from everyone who's involved in the program. And so they see the benefits to it. And to have that validation that yes, you actually are an important part of this, of this care team. To me, that just is another step closer to getting this to be standard of care.”

“So we try to maintain open doors of communication back to the oncology care team. Because number one I think it's important that they know what's going on. They're not just blindly referring patients to us and then they never hear from us again. I think it's important to have those open channels of communication.”

“I think it's important to continue and kind of close the circle for patients who have completed treatment and they're no longer going into the cancer center. Then to move them into a community based setting, into fitness centers that are trained and equipped and able to work with a survivor—someone who's been through cancer treatment—and safely create exercise programming for them.”

Achieving Better Health Through Information, Empowerment and Self-Advocacy [Podcast Series]