Rehabilitation in the Older Adult with Cancer

Relevance

In Canada, older adults with a diagnosis of cancer are surviving longer and with this increased survival, comes many different types of disability associated with cancer and its treatments.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this online physiotherapy course, therapists will have an understanding of the most relevant cancers in the older adult population and their medical treatments. Therapists will learn appropriate exercise techniques and safety considerations, how to administer an oncology assessment and how to design an individualized fitness plan for your client’s abilities and goals.

Target Population

As physiotherapists, we assess and treat clients with a diagnosis of cancer in acute care, outpatient clinics, rehab, private clinics and home care. As mentioned above, due to increased survival, we are going to see more people that have been touched by cancer in many areas of our practice.

Description of Supporting Evidence

In the last ten years, there has been a surge of research done in the area of exercise/ rehabilitation and cancer.

In a study conducted by Steindorf et. al. (2014) a 12-week resistance training program was shown to be a safe, feasible and efficacious strategy to improve cancer-related fatigue and components of quality of life in patients with breast cancer during radiation. Brown and Schmitz (2014) make a compelling argument about the need for continued research to clarify the safety and feasibility of prescribing exercise to survivors of colorectal cancer. Lastly, Kerry Courneya published multiple studies in 2018 and 2019 on exercise interventions for specific cancer types and populations. This session will establish best practice guidelines for oncology rehabilitation in an aging population.

Description of Session Format

This session will be a lecture-style course with an opportunity to design specific exercise programs for specific cancers. Participants will be able to see pictures of exercises, parameters for treatment (ie. seated row for an older adult with breast cancer) and the course will be concluded with a quick case study to solidify the information learned in the course. 

Conclusion

More and more patients are surviving after a diagnosis of cancer, but unfortunately they are also living with disability. The intent of this session is to help therapists become more knowledgeable in the world of oncology and inevitably strengthen the profession of physiotherapy.

Summary

This presentation was designed to help educate physiotherapists on the treatment of older adults with a diagnosis of cancer. Special attention will be given to the oncology assessment, safety protocols, outcome measures, and proper exercise prescription.

Please note that this course was recorded at the Canadian Physiotherapy Association 2019 Forum in Charlottetown, PEI.