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Exercise Oncology...what say you?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Aug 10 4:35pm | Replies (77)Comment receiving replies
Yes, there are many studies showing correlation, and a few preliminary ones hinting at a causal link (like https://www.nature.com/articles/nrc2325 ), but it's tricky because you can't pick 1,000 cancer patients and randomly assign them into exercise/no-exercise groups, especially not without their knowing which group they're in.
So to some (unknown) degree, the studies are simply showing that people who have good-enough health to exercise frequently also have good-enough health to fight cancer more-effectively, which isn't surprising. But since heart disease, bone-density and muscle loss, and diabetes are all common side-effects of long-term hormone therapy, it makes a lot of sense for those of us with advanced prostate cancer to exercise within our abilities *regardless* of whether it turns out that it actually reduces the risk of further metastases.
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Actually my exercise oncology protocol is based on the “gold standard” of medical studies; the randomized clinical trial (RCT)….there’s nothing “magic” about it….of course there is never ANY guarantee with ANY PCa treatment protocol.
For example, everyone should know that 20-40% of men who undergo radical prostatectomy will experience biochemical recurrence within 10 years and there are also no guarantees with any exercise oncology protocol.
That said, randomized clinical trials often follow stricter regulatory protocols than other randomized control trials, including ethical oversight (e.g., Institutional Review Boards) and compliance with standards like Good Clinical Practice (GCP).
Single or double blinding is only possible in drug based RCT’s.
The randomized clinical trial is the “gold standard” when comparing protocols such as different surgical techniques, where “blinding” is not possible.
The exercise protocol I’ve adopted is based on the ERASE randomized clinical trial (published in August 2021); whose conclusion follows:
“The ERASE trial demonstrated that HIIT increased cardiorespiratory fitness levels and decreased PSA levels, PSA velocity, and prostate cancer cell growth in men with localized prostate cancer who were under active surveillance.“
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/fullarticle/2783273