Fresh Start for Cancer Prehab & Survivorship

Safe, personalised exercise to help maintain or rebuild strength, fitness and confidence

Supporting what your body can do

Cancer treatment can change how your body feels and performs.

Fatigue, loss of strength, reduced fitness, pain and changes in balance or confidence can all make exercise feel very different from how it did before.

But movement can still have an important place during and after treatment.

Fresh Start for Cancer Prehab & Survivorship provides a carefully structured exercise programme built around your individual capacity, symptoms and stage of treatment or recovery.

The objective is not to push through at all costs. It is to help you move, strengthen and rebuild at a level that works for you.

Who is the programme for?

Fresh Start can support adults preparing for, undergoing or recovering from cancer treatment who are experiencing fatigue, reduced strength or physical deconditioning.

It may be suitable if you:

  • Want to maintain as much strength and fitness as possible around treatment

  • Feel significantly less active than you were before your diagnosis

  • Are experiencing cancer-related fatigue

  • Want support rebuilding physical capacity following treatment

  • Feel uncertain about which forms of exercise are safe or appropriate

  • Want a structured programme that can adapt as your symptoms change

Understanding where you are now

Before training begins, we consider:

  • Cancer type, stage and treatment history

  • Current symptoms, including fatigue and pain

  • Neuropathy or balance difficulties

  • Strength and functional capacity

  • Aerobic fitness through appropriate submaximal testing

  • Fatigue and quality-of-life measures

  • Relevant medical clearance and contraindications

Together, these provide a starting point for a programme built around what your body needs now.

Measuring progress beyond the scales

The outcomes that matter during cancer recovery are not always conventional fitness metrics. Fresh Start can track:

  • Cancer-related fatigue

  • Quality of life

  • Strength

  • Functional capacity

  • Aerobic fitness

  • Confidence

  • Mood

  • General activity levels

At week 12, key measures are reassessed to show where your capacity has changed and help guide what comes next.

What your 12 weeks looks like

Training uses a flexible mixture of aerobic exercise, resistance work, mobility and flexibility.

Aerobic exercise is progressively developed towards an appropriate weekly volume, while strength training targets the major muscle groups two to three times per week where tolerated. Your programme may change according to your treatment schedule and how you are feeling.

Simple fatigue scales and symptom check-ins allow training intensity and volume to be adjusted from session to session. On days when your capacity is greater, the programme can progress. When fatigue or treatment effects are more significant, the plan can respond. That adaptability is part of the programme, not a setback.

Working within the bigger picture

Fresh Start is designed to complement appropriate medical and oncology care.

Where there is severe or worsening fatigue, new or unexplained pain, neurological changes, functional decline, signs of infection or treatment complications, or an adverse response such as chest pain, severe breathlessness or fainting, medical or oncology review should take priority.

Why exercise matters

A combination of aerobic and resistance exercise can help support physical function, strength and quality of life during and after cancer treatment, and can play an important role in managing cancer-related fatigue.

But there is no single correct programme for everyone.

Treatment type, symptoms, fatigue and physical capacity can vary significantly from person to person and even from one week to another.

That is why Fresh Start prioritises individualisation and ongoing adjustment.

Move forward with support

Your relationship with exercise may look different during or after cancer treatment. Different does not have to mean finished. With the right assessment, sensible progression and a programme that responds to how you are actually feeling, exercise can become a positive part of maintaining and rebuilding your physical capacity.

Register your interest in Fresh Start for Cancer Prehab & Survivorship and speak to the Joint Dynamics team about whether the programme is appropriate for you.

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