Running away from side effects: physical exercise as a complementary intervention for breast cancer patients

Abstract

The number of breast cancer survivors increases every year, thanks to the development of new treatments and screening techniques. However, patients present with numerous side effects that may affect their quality of life. Exercise has been demonstrated to reduce some of these side effects, but in spite of this, few breast cancer patients know and follow the exercise recommendations needed to remain healthy. In this review, we describe the different breast cancer treatments and the related side effects and implications of exercise in relation to these. We propose that exercise could be an integrative complementary intervention to improve physiological, physical and psychological factors that affect survival and quality of life of these patients. For that reason, the main objective of this review is to provide a general overview of exercise benefits in breast cancer patients and recommendations of how to design exercise interventions in patients with different side effects.