Breast Cancer Awareness: Surgery & Fitness

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

For women who have undergone a lumpectomy or mastectomy and must follow it up with radiation therapy, a walking program of moderate intensity can help to improve fitness and maintain hemoglobin levels. Doctors and fitness experts have known that aerobic exercise helps women undergoing chemotherapy to preserve their red blood cells.

A recent study involved twenty-one patients who were surgically treated for breast cancer and undergoing radiation therapy 5 days per week for 7 weeks. The patients were randomly assigned to aerobic exercise and to flexibility training. Thirteen were in the first group and eight in the second.

The protocol for the aerobic exercise was 20 to 45 minutes of walking for 3 to 5 days a week for all 7 weeks of the radiation. The individuals were supposed to maintain an intensity of 50% to 70% of their maximum heart rate. The flexibility group performed deep stretching exercises on the same schedule.

The women who were on the aerobic protocol increased their hemoglobin and hematocrit levels. Hemoglobin is the oxygen carrying molecules in your red blood cells and the hematocrit is the volume of how many red blood cells you have in your body. The women who were in the stretching group showed a decline and the differences between the two groups were significant.

So fitness is important for health when you are healthy and when you are fighting for your heath. The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure occurs in Dallas the weekend of October 21. Be sure to check in your local area for fitness events that help raise breast cancer awareness and fitness for women on all levels.

I'm walking for the cure this year to help other women and I walk every day to help myself. Are you walking daily to help yourself?

Related Articles:

Breast Cancer Awareness - Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

Working Out with Cancer

Women's Fitness: National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breastfeeding Can Reduce Your Risk of Breast Cancer

Obesity & Breast Cancer

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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