Prehabilitation programs: what to know before cancer treatment

A prehabilitation plan is tailored to your diagnosis, treatment timetable, symptoms, and starting level of fitness. It may include gentle aerobic activity, strength or breathing exercises, dietary support, smoking cessation, sleep guidance, and help with anxiety. A physiotherapist, dietitian, nurse, psychologist, or other specialist may contribute.

The aim is to build a safe routine and identify barriers before treatment. For someone preparing for tumour removal surgery, the team may practise coughing and movement, review nutrition, and plan support at home. People with head and neck cancer may need particular attention to swallowing, speech, dental care, or weight.

Ask your cancer team whether prehabilitation is suitable and request a baseline review. Share breathlessness, pain, dizziness, swallowing difficulty, recent weight change, falls, and your usual activity. Follow the prescribed intensity rather than copying someone else’s exercise plan.

Prepare questions about food and supplements, alcohol and tobacco, transport, work, home equipment, and who will help after treatment. Keep a simple record of activity, symptoms, appetite, and sleep so the team can adjust the plan. Stop an exercise and seek advice if it causes new chest pain, severe breathlessness, faintness, or unusual symptoms.

Contact your treatment team before exercising if you have a new fever, uncontrolled pain, active infection, worsening breathlessness, repeated vomiting, severe dizziness, or a sudden change in strength. Urgent care is needed for chest pain, collapse, severe breathing difficulty, or new confusion.

A prehabilitation plan should change when treatment dates, medicines, blood counts, or symptoms change. Tell the team about any deterioration rather than trying to push through it. Cancer rehabilitation can continue after treatment, but its goals and exercises may differ from preparation before treatment.

Ask: Which part of my treatment should I prepare for? What activity is safe for me today? Do I need a dietitian, physiotherapist, or swallowing review? What symptoms mean I should stop? Can my family learn the home exercises? How will you measure progress and revise the plan if treatment changes?