The Effects of Resistance Training on Physical Function and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors

Abstract

Breast cancer survivors (BCS) exhibit decreased physical function and quality of life (QOL) following cancer treatments. Resistance training (RT) may elicit positive changes in physical and mental well-being. This study assessed 27 BCS, pre-and post-intervention (six months) on the following variables: muscular strength (via one repetition maximum (1RM) of chest press and leg extension), physical function (via the Continuous Scale-Physical Functional Performance test) and QOL (via the Short Form-36 survey). RT consisted of two days/week of ten exercises including two sets of 8–12 repetitions at 52%–69% of their 1RM. A repeated measures analysis of variance revealed BCS significantly (p < 0.05) increased upper (71 ± 22 to 89 ± 22 kg) and lower body (74 ± 18 to 93 ± 24 kg) strength, total physical function (65.5 ± 12.1 to 73.6 ± 12.2 units) and the subcomponents of physical function: upper body strength (63.5 ± 16.3 to 71.2 ± 16.8 units), lower body strength (58.5 ± 14.9 to 68.6 ± 16.3 units), balance and coordination (66.5 ± 12.2 to 74.6 ± 11.6 units), and endurance (67.2 ± 12.0 to 75.0 ± 11.6 units). No changes were observed over time for subjective measures of physical function and QOL. Results showed RT could be an effective means to improve objective physical function in BCS. Further research is needed to clarify the effects of RT on subjective physical function and QOL.

Aerobic capacity correlates with health‐related quality of life after breast cancer surgery

“…The BMI was not correlated with the ratio to the predicted 6MWT. It is thought that the weight of breast cancer patients within 1 year after surgery is not influenced by a reduction in aerobic clearly as in other studies (Brown et al, 2015;Simonavice et al, 2015;Wirtz & Baumann, 2018). Fatness and decreased physical activity are known to be associated with mortality and recurrence of breast cancer (de Boer, Wörner, Verlaan, & Leeuwen, 2017).…”

“…It has been shown that arm impairments such as flexibility, strength and oedema are present in breast cancer patients within 1 year after surgery, but it does not affect overall QOL, physical activity and fatness. However, even if it does not affect overall QOL, physical activity and fatness, it would be necessary to provide appropriate intervention because there were groups with impairment clearly as in other studies (Brown et al, ; Simonavice et al, ; Wirtz & Baumann, ). Fatness and decreased physical activity are known to be associated with mortality and recurrence of breast cancer (de Boer, Wörner, Verlaan, & Leeuwen, ).…”

“…causes physical limitations of survivors and a decrease in HRQOL, which are known to be poor prognostic factors for survival (Ibrahim & Al‐Homaidh, ; Kaya et al, ; Neil‐Sztramko et al, ; Patterson, Cadmus, Emond, & Pierce, ). Therefore, the importance of rehabilitation for improving HRQOL and physical limitations of breast cancer survivors has been emerged (Foley, Hasson, & Kendall, ; Leclerc et al, ; Simonavice et al, ). Previous cancer rehabilitation has targeted patients who have been completed treatment for breast cancer, but since the HRQOL of breast cancer patients is reduced immediately after the surgery, there is a growing interest in rehabilitation for patients during breast cancer treatment (Fu et al, ; Ho, Gernaat, Hartman, & Verkooijen, ).…”

“…In early studies, there have been several studies that consider physical activity and function as the same domain without distinction. However, studies within the recent decade have distinguished between physical activity and physical function, and more studies focused on physical function (Brown, Harhay, & Harhay, 2015;Campbell et al, 2012;Leclerc et al, 2017;Nottelmann et al, 2019;Simonavice et al, 2015).…”

The Effect of Familiarization on the Reliability of Isokinetic Assessment in Breast Cancer Survivors

“…Likewise, cancer-related fatigue is a subjective sense of exhaustion not relieved by rest that, also, reduces overall functionality and physical performance [12,24,36], which can play a significant role on exacerbating the loss of muscle tissue commonly observed in cancer survivors [4]. Physical exercise interventions, such as strength training, have been proposed to improve muscle function, attenuating cancer-related fatigue and cancer-induced muscle wasting [17,31,32,38]. However, to assess the effect of training interventions, it is important to use reliable measurements to meaningfully detect changes, if indeed these changes have been promoted by training and not by motor learning from repeating testing [19].…”