“The focus of the protocol was to help people build their muscle mass, bone density, deal with pain, and deal with fatigue, all based on the notion that moving weight in a systematic way can actually help people get stronger during and after cancer treatment.” – Cathy Skinner
“My claim to fame, when I work with cancer patients face-to-face, is I’m the queen of modifications. For example, if you’re someone who is limited in their movement because your bone metastases are at risk for falls, I can modify the exercises and make them more appropriate for someone at risk. Or I can take it to the other extreme on how to make them more challenging.” – Cathy Skinner
Meeting Summary
Advanced cancer patients, especially patients on hormone therapy, want to learn more about how exercise can help treat their disease. Advanced prostate cancer and breast cancer patients on hormone deprivation therapy suffer a decline in their muscle. Their heart is a muscle, and declines in cardio health are common side effects. Another side effect can be weight gain or weight loss. Exercise is an intervention that patients can control to offset the side effects of hormone therapy, and is generally one of the best anti-cancer therapies, strengthening the immune system and resiliency.
What should a cancer patient do? How can exercise be added into everyday life?
Cathy Skinner, CEO of The Art of Well and NXgenPort, has designed exercise programs that focus on building strength, balance, flexibility, and addressing weight management for cancer patients. Along with improving physical well-being, the program improves quality of life, function, range of motion, and stress management for survivors. Cathy shared ten exercises which can be personalized for cancer patients. You can see the exercises in the transcript or slide deck.
What is Cathy working on now?
During the pandemic, Cathy had an opportunity to work on a new startup, NXgenPort. This is a smart port that can monitor biomarkers and potentially personalize dosing. It is in an early stage of development.
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