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The online cancer rehab coach, Loughborough (2025)

26/10/2018

FRIDAY FUN with .
Working with children and young people means thinking outside the box to make sure exercises are fun but effective at the same time. It’s important to get creative in designing sessions and prescribing exercises.
Today I filmed a 20 minute strength, balance and agility session for a 16 year old I am working with. .
What a way to spend a Friday 🤸🏻‍♂️

22/10/2018

MOVING MEDICINE 🤸🏾‍♀️
🛋Currently 1 in 4 people over the ages of 16 and are doing less than 30 minutes of moderate physical activity a week, meaning they are inactive.
🚑Physical inactivity is one of the top 10 greatest causes of ill health nationally. Evidence shows that one in 4 people would be more active if they were advised by their GP or nurse. Yet nearly three quarters of GPs don’t speak about the benefits of physical activity to patients because their lack of skill, knowledge and confidence.
🤸🏻‍♂️The moving medicine website has an incredibly exciting set of resources that doctors, consultants and health professionals can use to “start the conversation” with their patients but also provide patient resources as well.
🎗So let’s talk about Cancer & Exercise.
🗂There is a rapidly growing and evolving evidence base around the benefits of physical activity & exercise in relation to cancer.
🇩🇰In Denmark Cancer Rehab is a standardised part of the cancer care pathway. You are given a cancer rehab plan pretty much alongside your treatment plan. It has an opt out option not opt in. People in Denmark pay higher taxes to get this support. .
📢There is more and more noise being made in this area. If we don’t move with the times and recognise that moving is medicine we are going to get left behind. The UK is already behind in this area compared to other nations and it’s time we started taking action to inspire and empower people to live happier and healthier lives and recognise by not moving or focusing on exercise, nutrition, sleep, stress management and social relationships it’s going to have a huge negative impact on our lives. Remember you only have one body that only you can look after. That also means practicing what we preach. .
👩‍⚕️I’m off to the LRI today to do my bit in educating consultants and health professionals working in cancer services about the topics above, and my own personal journey with cancer.

21/10/2018

EXERCISE & CANCER RELATED FATIGUE. .
🤸🏾‍♀️How can exercise help? ‘Cancer Related Fatigue is distressing, persistent, subjective sense of physical, emotional and/or cognitive tiredness or cognitive tiredness rather to cancer or its treatment that is not proportional to recent activity and interferes with usual functioning” (NCCN 2014)
As you can see it isn’t “Just” tiredness and isn’t relieved by adequate sleep or rest. An estimated 1/3 people report cancer related fatigue clinically up to 6 years post diagnosis. .
📝There is a wealth of evidence that shows that exercise is the best intervention to self manage cancer related fatigue. .
📖”If exercise could be packed into a pill, it would be the single most widely prescribed and beneficial medicine in the world”Harvard women’s health watch, Harvard medical school. .
🏃🏻‍♀️This picture is from 2012 when I decided to run the North Run after 3 intense cycles of chemotherapy, a 9 day hospital stint for treatment and a 2 day long infusion of methotrexate and a blood transfusion the day before as my haemoglobin was so low. I ran it with cancer still in my body and 3 more intensive chemo cycles still to go. Running this was the best thing I could of ever done and I will be forever grateful to my consultants fiona and Khaljit who empowered me to do this. .
I really believe this changed the way I looked at the cancer journey and it allowed me to focus on what I could control, therefore giving me a focus when I needed it most. Before I was diagnosed with cancer I could easily run under 7 minute miling for 13 Miles. During treatment I could barely break 10 minute miling and two weeks before the great north I tried to go for 4 mile run. I ran a 2 miles then had to walk home. Adjusting to a new normal was defiantly important but getting outside and moving not matter how slow or for how long was most important. .
✨Only part of me had cancer. Cancer had only taken over parts of my body (my neck, abdomen and bowel) but I had a whole lot of me it didn’t take over! .
My hope is to inspire and support others living with or beyond cancer to move a little more and sit a little less and to live a happier and healthier life.

19/10/2018

EXERCISING DURING TREATMENT FOR CANCER.

How does it work?

With lots of people interested in how to maintain conditioning and some level of fitness during treatment for cancer I want to talk about this in my post today. The most important thing to remember during this phase of the cancer journey is that it’s all about maintaince, adjusting to a new normal and understanding that every little bit counts, even if it’s a 5 minute walk.
✅During cancer treatment patients can typically lose cardiovascular and muscular fitness, experience debilitating cancer related fatigue and report demised psychological wellbeing. Additionally, many patients are advised to rest throughout treatment and an overemphasis on energy conservation can exacerbate the treatment related losses of physical conditioning and muscle strength.

Current evidence supports the recommendation of exercise during treatment to prevent decline in functional outcomes without increasing fatigue. Positive effects on aspects of psychological wellbeing such as anxiety and self-esteem can also be achieved.
However it is important to remember that a one size fits all approach does not fit all as we need to understand diagnosis, treatment pathway, surgeries. patient’s current health status, needs and goals.
On treatment you may face primary barriers such as infections, nausea, diarrhoea and fatigue.
Below are some strategies to overcome the barriers of fatigue and start exercising safely during treatment ;
- 🔸Stick to light-moderate intensity exercise for example 50-60% of max capacity
🔸Shorter duration of exercise.
- Interval exercise is good, so alternating exercise with rest bouts
🔸And/or exercising during days for example not on the day that you have had chemotherapy, doing it before chemotherapy in the morning would be fine. Focus ontimes for example early in the morning when fatigue is at its lowest.

Firsts step would be to lay the foundations. So I would suggest walking based activities first and home or hospital based functional exercises which just use your body weight to help maintain muscle strength and function. These exercises could include sit to stand squats, calf raises, lunges, wall press ups or Pilates or yoga based exercises.

18/10/2018

THE BEST PROJECT YOU ‘LL EVER WORK ON IS YOU.

How can I as a cancer rehab specialist support and help you?
Take a look below to see what my role looks like as a cancer rehab coach and how I can help you take control over your life when living with and beyond cancer.

My role is to support and guide you when living with and beyond cancer to use exercise to;

✅reduce short term and long term side effects of treatment.
✅Self manage and reduce cancer related fatigue
✅Improve function and overall quality of life.
✅Improve fitness.
✅Improve muscle strength and conditioning.
✅Improve your mental wellbeing.
✅Live a happier and healthier

What I do ⬇️

🔸Design a functional exercise programme specific to your diagnosis, current health status, needs and goals.
🔸Support to exercise in a safe and effective way.
🔸Help you to set achievable goals
🔸Be accountable
🔸Enjoy exercise and being active.
🔸But most importantly help you to take control over your life and focus on the things you CAN do not what you Can’t.

I feel I have a responsibility to share my personal experience after being diagnosed with cancer in 2012 and to show others that what they have experienced doesn’t have to hold them back in life.
Lack of confidence, and self esteem. Feeling paranoid of what might happen holds people back.

I want to empower others to change their environment and for them to recognise and understand that building towards and doing the recommended amount of exercise will have a positive impact on their physical and mental health now and in the future.

15/10/2018

I spent time over the weekend planning cancer rehabilitation programmes for the young people I work with for my work with MOVE Charity.

Looking through the NICE guidelines to refresh my memory on all the chemotherapy drugs they have been given and their side effects. They have so many weird and wonderful names. .
I remember when I got given my treatment plan for cancer, my husband and I took one look at one page of hundreds and then quickly stored them away and never looked at them again. .
Why? Because I may as well of jumped off a cliff. If cancer wasn’t going to kill me from looking at these documents pretty much everything else would.
I didn’t want my mind clouded with what could happen to me. We quickly focused on what we COULD control and what we couldn’t and it was is the best piece of advice I could give to someone. A little tunnel vision doesn’t hurt anyone.
This treatment was potentially going to save my life so hell yes I was going to jump straight into it without looking back! .
This is why I love this photo. When we focus on what we can control such as moving, keeping our body and mind strong we can turn the cancer experience around. There are so many positives that come from this and it’s often changing our mindset and thought process that’s the hardest part when going through something so life changing.
Look at all these benefits and they still apply when living with and beyond cancer if we are able to move more and sit less in a safe and effective way.
I’m going to keep banging on about it. Physical activity is a wonder drug and keeping our body and minds strong prepares us for disease in all stages of the journey.

The online cancer rehab coach

26/10/2018

22/10/2018

21/10/2018

19/10/2018

18/10/2018

15/10/2018

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