The Healing Power of Exercise in Cancer Patients

As our understanding of health evolves, exercise has been recognized as a foundation of good health. Adding to the long list of benefits, emerging research shows it can also serve as a healing tool for cancer patients. Exercise oncology studies how movement can ease treatment side effects, build strength, and influence the way cancer behaves. At the forefront of this field is Dr. Christina Marie Dieli-Conwright, a researcher at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and associate professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Dieli-Conwright studies the unique role of exercise after a cancer diagnosis, exploring how it can improve physical health, quality of life, and ultimately, survival.

Dieli-Conwright describes her academic journey as “more of a circuitous path than [her] colleagues.” She had always envisioned herself as a veterinarian, but in college, she switched into biology and graduated unsure of her next step. As a competitive dancer, she leaned on her lifelong passion for movement and decided to pursue a master’s degree in kinesiology. The program required her to generate a research question and orally defend her thesis, giving her a glimpse into the vast world of research. It was then she realized this was “something [she] could do for the rest of [her] life.”

She went on to earn her Ph.D. in exercise physiology at the University of Southern California. While studying muscle function in aging women, she realized she longed to work closely with clinical populations. Since cancer research had always been important to her, the emerging field of exercise oncology piqued her interest, allowing her to seamlessly blend both disciplines. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in cancer epidemiology, immersed in research, clinical shadowing, and statistical coding. A later NIH career-development award and pilot grant enabled Dieli-Conwright to launch her own lab—now Dana Farber’s inaugural exercise oncology lab, an achievement nearly 20 years in the making.

Even small actions like walking up the stairs or sitting and standing up 10 times can support the goal to ‘move more and sit less,’ she says.

Dr. Dieli-Conwright leads clinical trials examining how tailored exercise impacts patients across the cancer continuum. She prioritizes diverse racial and ethnic patient populations, recognizing that fitness varies widely based on lived experience, access, and health disparities.

At its core, exercise oncology is simple: it “[takes] the principles of exercise science and [applies] it to any individual who is either at high risk for cancer or has been diagnosed with cancer,” she explains. But applying these principles can be far more complex in practice. Before treatment, many patients get scared or overwhelmed by a cancer diagnosis. During treatment, side effects like a weakened immune system and fatigue can often impede wellness and motivation to keep exercising. And in remission, survivors confront the same barriers to exercise that many of us do: not enough time, limited transportation, and uncertainty about “where to start.”

Conducted in the lab’s research gym, the exercise interventions combine aerobic and resistance training into hour-long sessions, structured with warm-ups, moderate-to-vigorous exercises, and cooldowns. Aerobic training is continuous and rhythmic exercise, like running or swimming, that elevates your heart rate and builds endurance. Resistance training involves weightlifting or body weight exercises, relying on bursts of resistance to strengthen muscles.

Through her clinical trials, Dieli-Conwright observed that when patients adhere to their exercise program, they almost always “get stronger [and] more fit.” Combining aerobic and resistance training offers robust benefits, particularly to improve quality of life and reduce the risk of conditions like heart disease and diabetes. Her team also examines key bodily functions, such as heart health and muscle growth, to better understand how exercise affects the body during cancer. Early results show patients with improved brain function, blood circulation, and measures like blood pressure and cholesterol.

For Dieli-Conwright, the aim is for participants to finish her trials not burdened by expectation but empowered by possibility.

Still, the most rewarding results are personal. “The impact that something as simple as exercise can have on the patients is always awesome to see,” Dieli-Conwright says. Many participants finish trials with renewed confidence and a clearer understanding of how movement supports well-being. And supporting her patients’ growth is equally as meaningful as fostering scientific curiosity among lab members.

The inspiration for many of Dieli-Conwright’s trials arises from an amalgam of curiosity, clinical observation, and gaps in the literature. Central to her work is the inclusion of marginalized cancer survivors, who are largely understudied in survivorship research. The vision behind the ROSA trial for Spanish-speaking survivors came from an East Los Angeles study that revealed poor health outcomes in Latina breast cancer survivors. Additionally, the lack of studies on Black prostate cancer patients prompted her to design culturally tailored exercise programs for the POWER trial. She also observed patients on ‘red devil chemotherapy’ experience notable brain fog and memory loss. This motivated the CLARITY trial, which investigates the effects of high-intensity interval training on cognitive function in breast cancer patients on chemotherapy.

National exercise guidelines are not much different for cancer patients or those at higher risk for cancer. Dieli-Conwright believes the takeaway is deeper. “It’s not as simple as having these guidelines and expecting people to adhere to them,” she says, noting how an outdated one-size-fits-all model rarely works for a personal journey such as exercise. Instead, she encourages patients and the public to seek forms of physical activity enjoyable enough to sustain. Even small actions like walking up the stairs or sitting and standing up 10 times can support the goal to “move more and sit less,” she says.

For Dieli-Conwright, the aim is for participants to finish her trials not burdened by expectation but empowered by possibility. She strives to give them the motivation, knowledge, and support to keep moving in ways that feel manageable, one rep at a time.