“Personalizing Exercise for Your Cancer Care“
Featuring: Rob Newton, PhD, DSc
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Rob Newton, PhD, DSc
“Personalizing Exercise for Your Cancer Care“ (Rob Newton, PhD, DSc) [#164] Brad Power October 8, 2025 “Patients who are more physically active have less risk of recurrence. They survive longer, overall, which is not surprising. Anyone who is physically active is likely to live longer. But more particularly, we see that their cancer-specific survival is greatly enhanced.
We never knew before this fantastic study, called the CHALLENGE trial, whether it was a reverse causation. In other words, that association was the fact that patients who were doing better, feeling better, were more likely to survive, and they also did more physical exercise.
Now we have very solid evidence in a very large trial to show a direct causative drive, and this is in a randomized controlled trial. That study was presented at the American Society of Clinic Oncology in Chicago in the middle of this year. It really made people sit up and listen, particularly the oncology community, about the power of exercise as medicine to treat cancer.
Increasingly targeted exercise is being established as a first line treatment. It's not a ‘nice to have’. It's not something that you just say, ‘I'll talk to your patient.’ ‘It'd be great if he did some more walking, or if he played a bit more golf.’ It's much more nuanced than that.
We're realizing that it's absolutely essential as a component of the overall care of the patient, and the evidence now is that it enhances the effectiveness of mainstream cancer treatments.” – Rob Newton, PhD, DSc “We need to stop talking about fitness.
We need to talk more about the internal mechanisms of the levers that we are adjusting and tuning to produce a more cancer-suppressive environment, or to enhance the effectiveness of a treatment, or to reduce the side effects. More so than just, ‘Are they fitter?’ Having higher cardio respiratory fitness is nice, and it is related to survival, but I'm not sure that's the actual medicine.
” – Rob Newton, PhD, DSc “We now know that muscle tissue is a major endocrine organ, and it's signaling to all the other tissues in the body. In particular, our muscle tissue is a major moderator of signaling to our immune system and modulating the effectiveness of our immune system.
So if a patient has low muscle mass, they have dramatically compromised immune capacity, and of course, this is a major issue in trying to fight their cancer.” – Rob Newton, PhD, DSc Meeting Summary Cancer treatment is episodic and focussed mainly on treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.
While these treatments can be lifesaving, truly integrative oncology encompasses other treatments and therapies as well. Exercise medicine, nutrition therapy, and psychological support are major pillars of cancer care, but access can be limited.
truly integrative oncology encompasses other treatments and therapies as well. Exercise medicine, nutrition therapy, and psychological support are major pillars of cancer care, but access can be limited.
Fortunately, quality research is accumulating providing clear evidence that these “adjunct” treatments extend survival, enhance quality of life, facilitate the primary treatments while reducing their side effects, and reduce risk of recurrence.
As a result, access is opening up with more and more hospitals and cancer centers providing more extensive integrative oncology, including treatment in the home utilizing the greatly expanded capacity of the Internet and virtual health care due to Covid19.
“Personalizing Exercise for Your Cancer Care“ (Rob Newton, PhD, DSc) [#164] Rob Newton, PhD, DSc, is uniquely qualified to lead a discussion on personalizing exercise medicine to complement traditional cancer care. He is Professor of Exercise Medicine in the Exercise Medicine Research Institute that he established (2004) at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia.
His current major research directions include: exercise medicine as neoadjuvant, adjuvant, and rehabilitative cancer therapy to reduce side-effects and enhance effectiveness of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy; the influence of targeted exercise medicine on tumor biology, and exercise medicine for enhancing survival and reducing decline in quality of life, strength, body composition and functional ability in cancer patients.
What is personalized exercise for cancer care?
●Extensive individual assessments of body composition, metabolic factors, immune capacity, inflammatory status, gut microbiome, and psychological health ●Highly personalized exercise prescriptions that are dynamically adjusted based on your specific cancer type, treatment, and individual response ●Using advanced technologies like wearable sensors and AI to monitor and optimize the exercise intervention ●Focusing on changing internal physiological mechanisms to create a more cancer- suppressive environment ●Integrating exercise with nutrition and psychological support ●Continuously reassessing and adapting the exercise plan to enhance treatment effectiveness, reduce side effects, and improve patient outcomes Should you consider personalized exercise as part of the treatment for your cancer?
A recent New England Journal of Medicine study demonstrated a causative link between exercise and improved cancer survival.
Exercise personalized to your cancer type, treatment, and physical condition can: ●Enhance the effectiveness of traditional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation ●Reduce side effects of cancer treatments, such as fatigue related to radiation therapy ●Improve overall survival and cancer-specific survival ●Help create a more cancer-suppressive internal environment What are examples of personalizing exercise to your situation?
s like chemotherapy and radiation ●Reduce side effects of cancer treatments, such as fatigue related to radiation therapy ●Improve overall survival and cancer-specific survival ●Help create a more cancer-suppressive internal environment What are examples of personalizing exercise to your situation?
“Personalizing Exercise for Your Cancer Care“ (Rob Newton, PhD, DSc) [#164] precise cardiac output and optimal metabolism, to enhance tumor perfusion and radiation effectiveness ●If you are on androgen deprivation therapy : Use specialized resistance training techniques, emphasize muscle preservation, modify exercise to compensate for testosterone suppression What are the standard exercise targets and how should you vary from them?
●The standard exercise recommendation is 75 to 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise, two or more resistance training sessions, and some balance training each week. This is effective for cancer survivors who are relatively well and not undergoing treatment.. ●However, these generic guidelines are insufficient and in some cases contraindicated for cancer patients.
The approach should be tailored to your individual situation, treatments, health issues, and changing conditions. How can you measure progress from exercise interventions? Measuring progress isn't just about fitness metrics, but understanding the underlying physiological changes that create a more cancer-suppressive environment and enhance treatment effectiveness.
●A “DEXA scan”: a quick, painless, low-dose X-ray scan, can assess your muscle mass, fat distribution, and bone density ●Your observations : including your psychological state, anxiety levels, depression indicators, and concerns ●Blood tests: which can analyze your “myokine” (proteins released by muscle cells that act as signaling molecules in the body) levels, inflammation markers, immune cell health, and overall blood cell count ●Wearable devices : to track your physical activity characteristics, sleep quality, changes in your physiological state, heart rate variability, oxygen saturation ●Functional performance assessments : strength measurements, your ability to perform daily living tasks, control movements, maintain posture, and generate force Should you consider blood flow restriction training?
●Blood flow restriction training could potentially help you build muscle with lower mechanical stress, especially if you have limitations or injuries.
Should you consider blood flow restriction training? ●Blood flow restriction training could potentially help you build muscle with lower mechanical stress, especially if you have limitations or injuries. ●However, it has limitations: while it can help build some muscle mass, it lacks functional transfer and neural learning.
●It's most useful if you are struggling to do standard resistance training, but may not be widely accessible due to the specialized equipment and expertise required. How can you learn more about precision exercise in cancer?
“Personalizing Exercise for Your Cancer Care“ (Rob Newton, PhD, DSc) [#164] ●Follow research from Rob Newton's Exercise Medicine Research Institute at Edith Cowan University ●Contact Rob Newton at rob@fitmed.
com ●Read recent publications in exercise and cancer care ●Attend conferences and webinars focused on exercise and cancer care ●Consult with clinical exercise physiologists specializing in cancer care ●Explore digital platforms and resources that provide personalized exercise guidance for cancer patients ●See previous discussions we have had on exercise and cancer care: ○“Designing the Right Exercise Program for Your Cancer Situation” (Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH) [#157] ○“Exercise to Boost Your Immune System to Fight Cancer” (Dr.
Tom Incledon) [#49] ○Adding Exercise for Everyday Life and Developing a Medical Device to Personalize Cancer Treatment (Cathy Skinner) [#47] ○“Exercise as a Countermeasure to Hormone Deprivation Therapy Side Effects and for Bone and Mental Health” (Kerri Winters-Stone) [#48] ○“Exercise and Cancer Development and Progression" (Lee Jones, PhD) [#143] ○“How Daily Lifestyle Interventions Improve Your Cancer Outcomes” (Amanda Grilli) [#158] The information and opinions expressed on this website or platform, or during discussions and presentations (both verbal and written) are not intended as health care recommendations or medical advice by Cancer Patient Lab, its principals, presenters, participants, or representatives for any medical treatment, product, or course of action.
You should always consult a doctor about your specific situation before pursuing any health care program, treatment, product or other course of action that might affect your health. For the video recording, please see here.
“Personalizing Exercise for Your Cancer Care“ (Rob Newton, PhD, DSc) [#164] Meeting Notes KEYWORDS Cancer, exercise oncology, personalized exercise, exercise medicine, cancer therapy, survival impact, randomized control trial, targeted exercise, immunotherapy, muscle mass, fat mass, bone metastases, precision exercise, digital solutions, patient assessment, exercise prescription, cancer suppression.
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