Prostate Cancer Can Be Treated By Exercise: Study

People have been taught that exercise and proper diet are the secrets of living healthy. For health conscious, the New Year is always a good time to start practicing these things in able to achieve their goal to get fit. There are definitely many positive effects exercising can do to the body and one of which could be treating prostate cancer.

According to a report by BBC, there are currently 50 men with prostate cancer included in a study led by Sheffield Hallam University to determine if exercise is indeed an effective way in treating the disease. One of the main goals is to find out if this kind of therapy can stop the cancer from spreading.

It will be a year-long study, which is believed to be the first of its kind. The people involved are pretty hopeful that the study will give a positive result; especially that prostate cancer is most common in the U.K. It is reported that at least one out of 9 men in England will get the disease at some point in their lifetime, and there were already indications that suggested a positive outcome of exercise in prostate cancer treatment.

This could be good news for people who are currently suffering with the rigorous methods of radiotherapy or surgery. These procedures will have long lasting negative effects on the body and that is why many men would want to avoid them. Exercise could become a form of treatment that could be recommended on the NHS if the outcome of this current study suggests being helpful, Cancer Research UK reported.

Dr. Liam Bourke from Sheffield Hallam University, who leads this study, stated that there is already evidence suggesting physically active men have better chance of surviving cancer than those who are not. They are not sure it why it appears to be helpful in treating the disease; however, he cited that exercise may control the cancer cell preventing it to spread.

"The clinical academic team in Sheffield have been working hard for eight years to develop the intervention that is being tested in this exciting study. It builds on what we already know and is the first step towards finding out whether exercise could be an effective and practical NHS treatment for localised prostate cancer," Dr. Bourke explained. "If we show it works and is feasible, it could be a real leap forward and good news for cancer patients."