Effects of Exercise Programs on Cancer Patients: a Systematic Literature Review a Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This study examined exercise programs for the cancer patients, patient exercise time, and the data on exercise programs according to the type of cancer by systematically reviewing the results of the experimental studies on the application and effectiveness of the exercise programs for the cancer patients registered with the Korean Citation Index (KCI) and published between January 2010 and December 2016. The study result showed that exercise programs for the Korean cancer patients were found to have a positive effect. The most common cancer type and program time were ‘breast cancer patients’ and ‘after surgery’. Exercise programs were confirmed to be used in the recovery period. It was also confirmed that studies on the exercise programs for the cancer patients are very limited even though exercising has a positive effect on physical function and psychology during cancer treatment. Since the effectiveness of the exercises has been proven, it is necessary to develop various exercise programs based on the type of cancer and treatment period and study the application of exercises in the field.