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Getting Stronger After Breast Cancer

Weight Training May Boost Quality of Life While Strengthening Muscles

By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

March 27, 2006 -- Weight training may help breast cancer survivors feel stronger and better about their lives.

That's according to a study of 86 women who had had breast cancer. The study appears in Cancer.

The women were treated for breast cancer four months to three years before the study started. Half were assigned to train with weights twice weekly for six months. The others did no weight training.

"We hypothesized that women would feel 're-empowered' psychologically by becoming more physically powerful," write the University of Minnesota's Tetsuya Ohira, MD, and colleagues.

Their study backed that idea. Before-and-after surveys showed greater gains in quality of life in the weight-training group. Gaining upper-body strength and trimming extra body fat seemed especially helpful, the study shows.

Weighty Workout

Before the study, the women were "less than moderately physically active," Ohira's team writes.

First, the weight-training women met twice weekly for three months in small groups with a professional trainer. They learned nine common exercises using resistance machines and free weights to work the chest, back, shoulders, arms, buttocks, hips, and thighs.

The women also learned stretching exercises to do before and after each session. They were asked not to change their diets or other physical activities during the study.

After three months of supervised workouts, those women began weight training on their own. If any didn't do at least one weekly workout, a fitness trainer called them to encourage them to get back on track.

Crossing the Finish Line

Most women completed the study.

Breast cancer's return prompted two women from each group to leave the study. Three other women -- two in the weight-training group and one in the comparison group -- quit for personal reasons, such as lack of time or loss of interest in the study.

Quality-of-life scores improved for the weight-training women but not for those who didn't weight train. It's hard to quantify what those changes meant to the women.

"Anecdotally, the participants felt that the weight training increased ability, self-confidence, strength, speed, and endurance, and improved body aches, appearance, and sleep quality," write Ohira and colleagues.

Other aspects of the weight-training program may also have been beneficial, the researchers note. They add that various forms of exercise -- including walking, aerobic exercise, and tai chi -- have also been linked to better quality of life in breast cancer survivors.

Ohira's team calls for larger, longer studies of breast cancer survivors who train with weights.