MONDAY, April 28, 2025 (HealthDay News) -- Breast cancer patients fare better if they continue to exercise during their treatment, and a new program can help women get the activity they need to boost their odds, researchers say.

The Comprehensive Oncology Rehabilitation and Exercise (CORE) program assesses women’s physical activity needs based on the stage to which their cancer has progressed, researchers reported today in the journal Cancer.

More than 3 in 5 patients (62%) completed their referral to an exercise program designed to meet their specific needs, researchers said.

“CORE may serve as a model workflow algorithm aimed to integrate both exercise and rehabilitation services from time of diagnosis and beyond,” senior researcher Adriana Coletta, an investigator at the University of Utah’s Huntsman Cancer Institute, said in a news release.

Exercise following a breast cancer diagnosis can reduce a woman’s risk of dying from cancer by 31%, and her overall risk of death by 41%, researchers said in background notes.

Patients also can benefit from rehab services that can help them manage side effects like impaired shoulder range of motion or peripheral nerve injury.

For this study, researchers tested the ability of the CORE program to steer breast cancer patients to either self-driven exercise, a hospital-based exercise program, or a rehab service.

The team recruited 72 patients and randomly assigned them to either be assessed by CORE or to receive usual care. They then were tracked for 24 weeks following cancer surgery. 

More than 9 of 10 women (about 93%) assigned to CORE completed its assessment, and more than 3 in 5 followed its recommendations, researchers said.

Feedback from patients was overwhelmingly positive, with most saying exercise and rehab greatly helped their symptoms after cancer treatment, researchers said. 

“Findings from this trial support national efforts led by the American College of Sports Medicine to integrate exercise and rehabilitation services as part of routine cancer care,” Coletta said.

“If other cancer centers and clinics do not have exercise or rehabilitation services embedded in their institution, they could use the algorithm and triaging tool in coordination with the American College of Medicine’s Moving Through Cancer Exercise Program Directory,” Coletta added.

More information

MD Anderson Cancer Center has more on exercise during cancer treatment.

SOURCE: Wiley, news release, April 28, 2025