Buss, T., de Walden-Gałuszko, K., Modlińska, A., Osowicka, M., Lichodziejewska-Niemierko, M., & Janiszewska, J. (2010). Kinesitherapy alleviates fatigue in terminal hospice cancer patients-an experimental, controlled study. Supportive Care in Cancer, 18, 743–749.
To evaluate the effect of physical exercise on terminally ill patients with cancer.
Patients in the exercise group exercised three times a week for 20 to 30 minutes for a three- to four-week period. The schedule of exercises was individually planned by a physiotherapist. Study outcome measures were obtained at baseline, weekly, and at the end of the study. No information was provided regarding the control group procedures.
Patients were undergoing end of life care/end of life and palliative care phase of care.
This was a two-group comparative trial – no information was provided on whether patients were randomly assigned.
There were no apparent effects on outcomes during the first two weeks. By week 3, mean VAS intensity of fatigue declined in the exercise group from 6.5 to 5.5. In the control group, fatigue increased from 6.5 to 7.5 (ANOVA; p < 0.001). Physical symptoms tended to decline slightly in the exercise group and increase slightly in the control group, with changes ranging from 0.1 to .05 (p < 0.05). There were no observable effects on quality of life scores from the symptom checklist data.
Results suggested that individualized exercise can be beneficial for fatigue in terminal patients with cancer.
The study did not provide strong evidence for the effectiveness of exercise due to multiple issues in this report and the small measured changes seen. Findings suggested that exercise may be beneficial in terminally ill patients and showed that there were no apparent adverse effects from the activity provided to these patients.